Believe in the weird and wild
by 616mcu
Summary: Star is a very special person. Never has there been a person to share such excitement, such zaniness, and such lovability. Nobody could ever compare, except maybe the little gem boy she has come to know as "brother."
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, welcome to my new story. For any readers of my Universe vs Butterfly Story, don't worry, that will be finished, though I'm going to have to do that in august, because Starting on July 4th, i'll be gone for three weeks at camp. With the release of my third full on fic, Reverse Diamond Falls, I felt the need to release this idea I had cooking up for months. Again, these are my two most favorite characters, and while I would love them as friends, what if they were more? What if they were brother and sister? Just a random idea I had.**

 **Now this will be an au for both shows, mainly Steven Universe for reasons I will address later. Just know that the Gems, Rose included have been on Mewni, as well as other dimensions. Some episodes I will revamp and add Steven, but for the most part, I will try to be as original as possible. Also expect some slight, not terribly big, but noticeable changes in Stars personality here. In the show, its no secret she's irresponsible and flighty, but add a little brother she always tries to impress and protect, that will give her a motive to grow up a little more. I hope this fic is enjoyable.**

 **I owe nothing.**

* * *

Within the outer borders of Mewni, was a little blonde with bulging blue eyes and pigtail. She wore a cure, blue poofy dress along with a little golden crown on top of her head. This plucky little girl was happily and randomly hopping all around the place as she wandered off to who knows where. Today's obedience lesson happened to be one of the most boring ones she had been in, so she decided to make the most out of it by taking on of the carriages and ride them around the kingdom. Unfortunately, one of the guards as well as her father just so happened to spot her, and tried to get her down. They gave chase, which spooked the horses that Star was using, which made them run faster, much to the little girl's excitement. But now the horses were tired and not moving somewhere in the outskirts of the kingdom, and the little Princess of Mewni, Star Butterfly, just randomly hopped around, still feeling the effects of adrenalin from the little ride she had just went through. She wondered why her parents made her go through such boring things anyway? Why couldn't she just be outside all the time and enjoy the thrills of a carriage ride chase? Wasn't the point off being a princess having fun with all the power you were given?

Star had finally calmed down enough to sit down for a moment, not really caring if she was sitting on dirt and getting her dress all messy. To her at least, her clothes were a little too clean. She sat as he looked up in the sky. Too think, out there was only a small amount of what the universe held. Other worlds, other places, and so many people to meet, some fun, some dangerous, and some just plain awesome. Star was determined to see them all, to see everything. She was never going to be bound be just Mewni, she would have the funniest time of her life.

But at the moment, she was just a kid, a kid that couldn't really go places other than the outside of the castle, heck she was lucky enough that the horses happened to be scared enough to go this far. She sighed at her limited options, and how alone she was at the moment. It wasn't as if she was without friends that understood her, she had plenty of those, and the people of Mewni were friendly enough to be around with. It was just that her closest friends couldn't be around her all the time, and if she had to be honest, she didn't know whether or not people liked her for herself, or the fact that she was the future ruler over all of them. She really wished she had someone to play with all the time, someone who could know what it feels like in her situation. Someone who enjoyed fun and laughter and exciting cart chases. She had also been thinking about monster fighting, so that was important to. She could only wish though, for what were the chances that….

 _Rustle, rustle,_ a sound from the bushes came.

"Hello, is anyone there?" she asked, more curious than scared. "If you're going to kidnap me, at least allow me one more pony ride before I we go." She innocently stated as she gestured towards her horses, which had fallen asleep in their state of tiredness.

 _Rustle, rustle._ The sound of the bushes became louder and more prominent. Star once again shows no fear as she tries to approach the hidden figure. She could only hope that whatever lied behind the little green plant was friendly and will to give her a ride back home.

"Come out please, I don't bite, well, at least not at everyone, much." She stated as she tried to ease the nerves of whatever it was, thinking it might be shy.

"Fine, I'm coming to you, just, please, please don't freak out and run, that's usual my mother's thing." She said one last time before approaching the bush. She pushed aside the twigs and leaves that made up the plant as she made her way to the other side. Nothing. Not a thing was there in front of her. She looked up, wondering if she missed anything, but she once again, saw nothing.

"Aw man, I was really hoping somebody would try to kidnap me, would've been fun to be chased around." She said, slightly disappointed as she turned around to make her way back to the horses, when…

"ba" A weird, young sounding voice filled the air, which stopped Star in her tracks. She looks around once again to see if something was coming close to her. She once again sees nothing, and before she could move on and assume it was the wind, the voice comes on again.

"Bah, ah, tah." The voice randomly says. She looks in every direction, wondering where the source was, hoping to find it, but she sees nothing. Suddenly, she feels something small, but noticeable on the front of her leg. It felt like putty was grabbing her led, moist and soft, but didn't really have a strong grasp. She slowly looks down to see what it was, hoping it wasn't dangerous.

What she finds, was not something she was expecting. On grabbing her leg, was a small baby. Maybe only a year old, maybe even a little less than that. He was chubby, like most baby's with clean, flawless and soft skin. He had a big puff of curly hair, bigger than what one would expect from a baby. He wore a reddish, almost pink onesie on. What was most interesting, was the big pink gem sticking out of his naval. The shirt had one an opening in it, as if to show it off. Its eyes were brown, but filled with curiosity and wonder as he approached the larger girl, not showing any signs of worry, discomfort, or fear. The little blonde princess could only awe in the sight of the little boy,

"Awwww, a baby! What are you doing all alone? Are you trying to escape your classed to." She innocently cooed as she kneeled down to his level. The baby just lets out a series of random vowels and consonants as he reaches out his chubby little hand, trying to grab hold of the little face. Said girl just smiles as she attempts to pick the baby up. "You just want to be with some one, don't you?" She holds him out in front of her, staring face to face. The baby just gives out a smile as he reaches out for he girl. "Aww, does the little cutie baby want a hug?" She cooed again as she proceeds to do exactly that. The warm and squishy body the baby was just so nice to hold on to, it gave the little princess a little feelin on the inside. She didn't know exactly what that feeling was, but it was a good feeling, and she didn't want it to stop. Likewise, the baby seemed to share the same sentiment. He didn't know what was going on or who this girl he was hugging was, but he felt warm and safe around her. Plus she was hugging him, someone willing to give out hugs surley couldn't be bad, right?

"So where are you from little guy?" She asked once she felt her arms getting tired. She sat down, with the baby right on her lap, leaning against her chest. "You aren't alone are you?" She questioned. The baby, being, well, a baby, couldn't answer as he just held on to the little girl. "If only you could talk, then maybe things would be better, I mean, not that's its bad that you can't talk, it just gives me more opportunity to say more, as well as a chance to finally speak what I think, you know what I mean?" She asks. The baby only makes a smile at her as he makes bubbles with his drooling saliva. "I'd knew you agree with me, you have that smart look on your face." She laughs as the baby stares at something to their left. Something that casues the small but bright smile to go away. Something was amiss, and somehow, the baby could sense ill intentions coming their way. "What's wrong?" Star inquires, as she sees the frown slowly form on the baby's face. "Was it something I...", her squeaky voices just trails off as she finally notices what the little by was staring at. It was a big, fearsome looking creature. It was as big as a rhino, with long poofy white, messy hair. It had no eyes or ears, only a mouth with rows of sharp teeth sticking. Spikes also stuck across its bluish, green body as it approached them. What was strange about it however, was the fact that it had some sort of crystal sticking out of its body right on its right front leg, not too dissimilar from the gem that the baby had on its stomach.

Both younglings were completely silent. Neither didn't want to set off the monster off. One false move and they could get eaten or worse. Star, with the baby still in her lap, began to scoot slowly in the opposite direction, making sure to not make too much noise. The monster didn't seem to notice as Star begin to sigh inwardly. Now all they had to do was...

"achoo." The baby sneezes, prompteing the young girl to cover his mouth. "Sssh" she said, before notice something slimy and warm covering her hand. "Eww, baby spit!" she creamed, before promptly covering her mouth, not caring that it was still covered in the baby's drool.

Sure enough, that was enough to set off the monster. "Raaaaagh" it howled before charging. "Come one, baby, lets get moving!" She screamed as she picked up the little boy and ran as face as her little legs could carry her. She was panicking. She had always dreamed about fighting monsters, but she never expected to fight one so soon, and especially not one so nasty and violent. She ran right through the bushes, tearing up her dress a little as she did, having no time to make a safer path. She made her way to the carriage, holding on to the reigns as she made sure to strap in the baby, who smiled, not really noticing that they were in danger at the moment.

"Glad your able to enjoy yourself, now lets get out of here!" She yelled as she used the reigns to snap the horse awake. And as such, they immediately took off to the castle. Star's heart rate slowly started to slow down as sounds of the monster began to grow a little faint. She could only look ahead as she saw the kingdom in sight. Dread filled her bones. She knew that she would be scolded at for skipping her class, running off, and putting herself and a random baby. She looked back on the baby, who had somehow managed to get his foot into his mouth, which softens Star's mood a little.

"At least one good thing came out of it." She smiled as she finally lets her guard down, thinking the worse is already behind her.

 **BASH**

Star barely had time to react. The monster had somehow gotten in front of them, which prompted the horses to run in opposite directions. This snapped the reigns as the cart was about to head into the monster head on at full speed and force. Star, without even thinking, grabbed the baby and jumped off the cart. She held the baby in the air as she did, making sure she took the full brunt of the impact. The baby just ended up with a few dirt marks on the cheek and maybe a small cut on the left arm, but he showed no visible signs of pain. Star ended up getting a bruise on her cheek, leg, as well as a quite a few scars scatter across her body. She tried her best not to cry in pain, espeacilly when she saw that the baby was alright. Unfortunately, the monster was still coming at him, slowly, but surely it would come at them.

Star immediate got on her feet, stumbling a little as she got in front of the boy. "Stay back baby! He have to hide, she said as she was prepared to protect him. Star felt like one of her more heroic and brave grandmothers of the past as she was prepared to sacrifice herself. She could only hope that the statue that they make in her honor resembled her perfectly. The monster had finally reached her, finally ready to take his mark and slash the little girl. It raised up his paw, and took a powerful swing at her, while Star closed her eyes, fully prepared to accent her fate.

clang

clang

clonk

clink

Several sounds were made, but none of them were the sound of a smashed little girl. Star looked around to she what had just happened. She found herself surround by some sort of bubble of pink light. She didn't understand. She didn't have the family wand, and nobody was around her to do such a thing. What could possibly...

She looked down at the baby she was just about to sacrifice herself for. The gem that stood out of his body was shimmering, glowing a bright pink, the very shade of pink that the bubble was made out of. She picks him up. "Whoa, magic baby." she states as her eyes bulge in the sheer awesome act that was just preformed in front of her. "Can you do anything else to help us out of here?" She asks, seeing as how they may have an advantage over the monster now.

Steven simply giggled as his gem glowed even more, an d on the outside of the bubble, spikes shot out of it, turning the pink ball into a flail. The spikes cause the monster to flinch back a little.

"Ohhh, this is going to be sweet!" The little princess shrieked as she held the baby close to her self as she charged at the monster.

* * *

"Find her, find our daughter!" Order the Queen of Mewni, Moon Butterfly. She, along side her husband River had been searching for their daughter for hours, with no luck in finding her. She was known to run off at times, but she never was out for this long. It scared them, but it especially frighten the valiant Queen. The king could only comfort her as they ordered the guards to expand their search.

"My dear Queen, you must simply calm yourself, worrying about out daughter isn't going to help us any further." River said.

The queen just sighs, knowing the truth in his words. "I know River, but I can't do anything else. I have all this power" she holds up her blue staff, "and I'm completely powerless in helping my own daughter." She cries out in frustration.

"My dear, Star may be young, but she knows how to take care of herself, most of the time" he sheepishly adds that last part, " Our Daughter is a fighter, she is not one to be deterred so easily."

The Queen sighs once again. "I know that, River. It's not just this I'm worried about, its her whole future that's got me worried. If I'm right, then Star's has a lot of trials and trouble ahead of her. I need to be serious about this, I'm going to have to give my families heirloom to her someday, and if stuff like this keeps up, i'm afraid she'll be overwhelmed and unprepared by what comes next." He head falters as she expresses her worry.

"Moon, my dear, Star won't be like that. She'll have us by her side, she'll have you." River simply states, resulting in a smile from the queen.

"I suppose so, but even still.." The Queen doesn't even get to finish her sentence as she is interrupted by a incoming guard, "My King and Queen, the Princess has been spotted just on the out skirts of the castle, and reports say that she was fighting some, some creature." The guard reports as he bows.

Upon hearing this, the relieved and shocked parents waste no time as they make their way to the catsle outskirts. They were prepared to destroy anything that dared to harm their daughter.

Once they made it, they couldn't really believe what they saw. Their were various dents and cracks on the flow, and even a crater, which in the middle of, was a blue gemstone. Next to the crater was their daughter, attempting to play patty cake with a baby boy. "Come one, you can do this." She encouraged as the baby just calmly clapped the girls hand. This was enough for the girl as she shouted "Hooray!" and hugged him.

"Star, both worried royals shouted as they hugged their daughter. "Star, don't you ever run off like that ever again!" Moon sternly but lovingly said. Tears filled her eyes as she was finally comforted by the hugging of her daughter.

"Star, what happened, nothing hurt you, right?" River cautiously asks, hoping that she didn't really encounter something that would've hurt her.

"Oh I did, but this Magic Baby saved me!" She said as she picked up said baby, who at this point fallen asleep. Her parents eyes widen at her statement. "I found him alone when a monster cat or something came, and I ran, and he crushed the carriage and was about to crush me, but than this magic baby made a magic spike ball and I used that to fight the monster, ohifeelsoawesome!" She shouted as she barely breathes in from all that talking. The parents eyes got even wider as they stare at each other, having no clue as to what to make of that sentence, or how to respond.

"I love this baby!" The elated Star shouts. "Can I keep him?

* * *

 _Writing 3,000 word's is getting easier now, though that's mostly because this chapter was so much fun to write about. Never underestimate the cuteness of the star Children._


	2. Chapter 2

"Awwwe, is the little Baby ready to go out today? Is he, is he?" The cooing voice of the youngest Butterfly echoed the walls of the castle. It had been exactly two days since the whole monster attack, and Star did not once leave the little boy's side. The little six-year-old was really attached to the baby boy, who likewise seemed to enjoy her company. She would be seen just smothering the boy with hugs, kisses, tickles and pure affection. She absolutely refused to let the baby down. She swore to herself that she would never let him go.

"Ba, ba." The nearly 1 year old spat out as he reached out for the blonde headed princess. He didn't seem to be bothered by the girl in any way, nor by her parents, the various guards surrounding the palace, or by the all too new surroundings. The boy didn't recall much, so much was still new to him. He wasn't sure if this was how life has always been, but he wanted it to always be this way. He had constant affection from this little girl alone, what more could he ask for?

The two were currently in Star's room, with the little girl planning a full day for them outside the castle walls. She was hoping that everyone would get to know the "little awesome magic spike ball baby that saved my life!", as she often told people when they asked about said baby.

Just outside the little girl's room, was the parents of the little girl. Each of them had a concerned and worried expression on their faces. They were going to tell their daughter something that she might not like, and they knew that she was not going to take it well. None of them had anything against the little baby, in fact, they loved him for not only saving Star's life apparently, but for also making their daughter the happiest she has been in a long time. But, with that said, there was just some things that had to be done.

"Okay, magic Baby…" The little elated Princess said as she pushed the baby on a bright blue stroller. "I'm going to introduce you to all of the kingdom, that way we can have all the same friends, so it won't be weird when we try to have some over for a sleep over!" She excitedly explains her plan as she bursts out of her room. "Then we can…" She begins, only to stop mid-sentence when she sees her parents looking right at her. She looks up at them casually, not taking not how worried their faces were at the moment. "Hey guys, I was just taking Magic Baby for a stroll around Mewni, nothing exciting, for now." She quietly whispers that last part, knowing that her parents might not approve of her plans for later on.

"Star," Moon Butterfly answers. "Exactly how attached are you to the youngling? I've noticed that you've been hovering over him ever since his arrival." She says with soft concern.

"Oh, I love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love , love, love, loooooove, love, love, love, love, looove him soooo much." She hopped with joy. "He's cool and cute and magic and always listens to what I have to say without judgement, isn't that wight little cutie." She cooed as she bends down to the little boys level. Said little bout just touched her nose with his little finger as he gave a light chuckle. "Ohhhh, your so pudgy!" Star squealed as she squished the chubby cheeks of the baby.

River Butterfly leans closer to his wife with his eyes widened. "Dear, that was more than five loves in a row, this is more serious than we thought." The king confirms. The Queen could only nod in agreement as she to also realized how seriously attached to the infant their daughter was. "Just tread carefully dear, we don't want to have a breakdown like last time." They both wince in memory of the last emotional breakdown. They had never seen so many broken windows and furniture in one room, not to mention the other messes resulted from the chaos, and that was all over not getting dessert.

"Star, we know that you are fond of the baby, and we mean you no discomfort or sadness." At this Star begins to frown at her mother's words, feeling like something bad was going to happen. "You want to do what's best for him, do you?"

"Of course, I do! He's the best baby I've ever met! He helped me beat up my first monster! He listens to everything I say! He lets me draw over his face with glitter and paint!" She shouted a little overenthusiastically as she picks up the baby and shows them the various makings made by said glitter and paint. "I would do anything for him!"

"Star, you do know that he can't stay with us, right? We have to give him back to wherever he belongs to." River cautiously stated, knowing full well what was going to happen next. Star, as expected, began to go red as she violently stomped up and down.

"NOnnonononononononononononono! He can't go away! He's my magic baby! He belongs with me, with us, with our family!" She shouted as tears began to flow down her face. She never wanted to hear those words enter her ears. Why would her parents want to get rid of the greatest thing that she has ever found?

"Star, we can't keep him. He's not your toy or a pet. He's a still growing infant, and he needs the care of his real family." Moon said, getting a little more impatient with her complaining daughter. "He'll be fine, we'll make sure he's as comfortable as possible until his guardians are found.

"But he has his real family! Me! He saved my life the other day when I was trying to save his life! It's like magic, or, or, fate, or whatever storybooks call it!" She cuddles close to the baby, who face began to wince at all the anger and sadness the little girl began to pour in the air. "He can't go anywhere, he can't, he can't, he can't, he can't!" She repeatedly cried out as her voice began to fail her.

"Star, we know this is a bit much to swallow, but it has to be done." Moon sternly states as she orders the nearby guards to gather the baby. "Place him in the right custody and spread the word to find his parents." She commanded as the guards do as they were ordered. The little Mewni Princess tries to fight the off, trying to keep the baby out of their reach, but it was all for naught. Within moments, the boy was in the guard's hands and walking towards the exit. "St, sta, sta," the baby babbles incoherently as he is carried off.

Star was now in a frenzy. She ran towards them, trying to get her little baby back as they walk off. She comes close to reaching him, only to be stopped by the arms of her parents. "Star, you have to let him go. He'll be find without you." Moon tries to calm her down as she struggles to contain her daughter. Both her and River look at each other, knowing they had to do what was best, but they still couldn't help but feel bad deep down for making their own daughter cry.

But Star was not willing to let it go. "No! NO! NO!" She screamed as her hair began to rise. Her parents take note of this and began to loosen their grip, not really sure what was going to happen. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOO!" she screeched as the little hearts on her cheeks begin to glow as she begins to float off the ground. "Noooooooooooooo!" She howled as her eyes became blank with a luminous light. All around her, floor tiles, pieces of the walls, shards of broken glass swirled around the little floating girl as her power began to rise. "No, no, no, NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She continued.

"My word, what's happening to our daughter?!" The short statured King of Menwi questioned as he tried to get himself and his wife at a safe distance.

"Star's must've tapped into her innate magical abilities under all that emotional distress. But it's too much for her young body to handle!" The Queen of Mewni explained, trying to get a little closer. "She'll hurt herself if we don't do something, provided that she doesn't destroy the castle and us first."

"But what can we do?!" The king worriedly shouted as he got one good look at his daughter. The two guards from earlier were trying to get near the little child, hoping to contain the damage, only to be shot through the windows, leaving the confused little baby on the ground. He had no idea as to what was going on, but he knew something bad was going down. So, he began to crawl towards the two worried and afraid parents. "Can't your wand do anything about this, or maybe even Glosseyrick or…."

Wack.

A piece of armor knocks the king down on the ground, rendering him incapacitated, and a gigantic bruise on the head. Moon had no time to concern herself with her fallen husband as she prepared to face her daughter. _"If I can get close enough, I might be able to use my wand to drain away some of her excess power."_ She thought. What she didn't notice however, was the little baby behind her, climbing on top of her husband's head, placing his small mouth on the spot where the bruise was. "Star, you must listen to me! You exerting to much strain on your body! I'm going to try something, but I need you to let me in!" She shouted, hoping some part of her is able to gain control.

Star briefly looks at her mother. Her face softens at her sight. Even when they disagreed, her mother still always did what was best for her. She wanted to trust her, she wanted to let her help….

"Ahhhhhhh.!" The little princess shouted in pain as her power grew even more, the pain from using so much magic had started to take its toll on the little girl's body. "MOM. MOM. MOM! So. So. Sorrrrrrryyy…" was all she was able to stammer out as more debris began to circle around her. Faster and faster it spanned, the faster went, the deadlier it became.

"STAR, PLEASE!..." The mother shouted as she was prepared to blast her way through. More and more debris were hurled at her as she prepared to blast her way….

Whomp.

A bright pink light shines in front of her at the very moment she was going to fire her spell. She was unprepared to see the bright gleaming pink shield right in front of her, and she did not expect it to come from the little baby of all places, who had attached himself to the Queen's leg. The bright pink Gem shined as the baby gave out an elated chuckle. She looked back at the shield, now noticing the design, the symbol on its center. It looked very, very familiar.

"No, it couldn't be." She whispers in shocked realization. "Your, you, you're her's?" She questioned before picking the child up. The shield was still up, and it seemed handle the force of Star's power. So slowly she made her way up. She had to block and blast every bit of debris that came her way, which was pretty easy with both a shield and magic wand at hand. What was not easy was doing so while holding a baby. She knew that the shield and the Baby were a packaged deal, so she let the baby grab a hold of her neck as she made her way through. Fortunately, the baby had a surprisingly strong grip, so he was able to hang on as she fought to protect them both. Every time she unleashed a spell, she would hear the happiness come from the little boy's mouth, which was both charming and distracting.

"Glad that one of us is having fun here." She snarked as she finally made her way to the middle to confront her daughter. Star screamed in pain, the power being too much for her little body to handle. Moon sadly looked away for a moment, knowing this was not about to be a pleasant experience.

"Star, listen to me, you must calm down for a second for me to concentrate!" Moon shouted as she prepared to launch her spell. Star was in too much pain to really listen. Her entire body was in a giant spasm, so her arm and legs where waving every where. Each time that she did, it let out a wave of power than forced everything back. Moon luckily still had the shield, or else she would be flying against the wall. "Star, relax! I'm going to..." Moon shouted out her daughter right as she let out one of her spasms.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed in pain as she let out the power. Her veins glowed a bright white, like its was about to burst out of her body at any second. The power spasm was so powerful that it knocked the wand out a window. Moon felt defeated, she had no way to save her daughter, and all for what? A little lost..

That's it!

She took a long look at the Baby's gem. If this infant was who she thought he was, then he may be Star's only hope now.

"I hope I'm right about this." She said with a slight frown. She once again walked towards her chiled, this time carrying the baby in her left arm. Once again, they made their way to the center and met the mouning child. "Star, come closer, you have to let the baby touch you!"

"No, no, no, keep Magic Baby away! I don't want to hurt anyone else anymore, especially not him!" she feared as the both her mother and the baby closed in. She tried to move away, but she was in to much pain to really move, and she didn't now how to move while floating anyway.

"Star you must! He's special, just like you! He can help stop the pain!"

"But, but, but I'm dangerous! I'm going to hurt him, just like that monster tried to do!"

"Star, listen to me!" Her mom dropped the shield, which immediately disappeared one it touched the ground. She placed a calming had on her daughter's right shoulder, and spoke to her with a comfident smile. "You are not a danger, and never think that your a monster. You are my daughter, my little Star Butterfly, and I know you wont hurt him, just like I know you will get through this." She calmly said as she held out the baby to her daughter. The baby, once again, showed no fear to anything that has transpired as he eagerly reaches out to the older girl. Star, with tears now rushing down her face like a waterfall, hug the baby in a deep embrace. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She kept on repeating as she held the baby with everything she had. She takes a good look at the baby as she holds him face to face. "Please help me." She pleaded. The boy, as if he understood her dilemma, reached out his little head, and placed his lips on her cheek, almost like a kiss. Star was delighted and confused at the same time. But before she could ponder anything else, the white light glowed even brighter, with a luminance to match that of the sun. Everything was blank all was quiet, all was still.

A few hours later.

* * *

"She's find for now, my Queen." The voice a Glosseyrick answered. One of the oldest beings in the universe, Glosseyrick was knowledgeable in many things, especially in all things involving the Butterfly family history, and their most prized possession, the wand. Still, that didn't stop him from being a rude, almost apathetic, jerk. "Her body is resting from the magic overload. She should be fine in the mourning. At most, she'll forget about it, and chalk it up to a bad dream." The tiny blue man observed the sleeping body of said sleeping princess, who had the baby cuddled up in her arms, sleeping right beside her.

"Thank you. I guess we should be grateful that all their is. Star is beeter off not remembering the trauma of today." River sighed in relief along side her husband.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that my liege." The Blue man interrupted the moment. "If the magic overload was as big as you said it was, than this is going to be the least of your problems. I have never heard of a princess use magic without the wand at such an early state, not even Queen Eclipsa." All three adult bodies shiver at the very mention of the name of the Dark Queen.

"So your saying that Star might reach that level of power?" Said the concerned mother.

"No. I'm saying that little Star here is on the verge of leveling up to a power, far pass of Eclipsa's." Said the floating man, without restraint or tact at all. This widens the eyes of both parents. "Now what of the boy? You said that he was the main source of out little princesses tantrum, as well as the solution to it.?" He said as he got a closer look at the baby.

"Yes, you see, I believe that he may be the offspring of an old friend of my family." She inquired, with Glossyerick picking up on what she meant as soon as he spotted the pink mineral sticking out from the baby' flesh. "I see, so this is the son of the "Rose Guard". Hpm, that would explain why Star had gotten so attached to him, she always did have a way with connecting to people." The wise old man simply chuckled upon remembering the tall, pink warrior.

"But what do we do now? If what you say is true, then she's gone. We have no way of knowing where any of her kind are, or if they would even except him, and we can't just give him away to any random citizen, he's to important to leave in the hands of anyone." The King questioned, not liking where this was all going.

Glossyerick glanced at the two sleeping younglings. "Not everyone." He said slowly before turning to the two Royals. "Why not let him be here? I mean, he's already quite found of Star, and, well you know how attached she is to him." Glossyerick expressed. The two parents just looked at each other in worry.

"Can we? I mean, sure, Star would be delighted, and I actually would be thrilled to have a son around here, but can we really do this dear?" River asks.

"I suppose we would be the best to raise him since his mother's gone. Its the least I could do after everything's she's done for me." Moon says, also not bothered to have another child. "But can we risk them both together?"

"Look, my liege, I'm going to be blunt with you know: Its already too late." The Butterfly elders just give a confused look. "Star's life is already intertwined with the Rose Guard offspring. Their fates are tied together, it was the moment he helped her with that power overload. To separate them, especially now would be, disastrous to say the least." The floating man stated as the Butterflies keep staring at the two children in shock. "They are going to need each other as they grow up, tough times are ahead, and they may be the only people the can rely on to get through it." He pauses for a second to let them process the information. "It's your choice in the end, but if you ask me, the choice has already been made." He gestures at the two children before floating off, leaving the two Butterfly Adults to decided.

"So, what do we do?"

* * *

Morning came all too soon for the little Princess. She woke up with a feeling of dread. Sure enough, she turned over to the side of her bed, and there was no Baby. She searched for any signs of him, any sign that he was still there, but no. Every piece of hope that she had were dashed away. She sadly sighed as she made her way to the dining hall. At least she could attempt to forget her sorrows by stuffing her face.

She slowly made her way to the table as she sat in her chair, the one farthest from her parents. She could barely remember what happened yesterday. All she remembers is crying, seeing the baby leave, and then, blank, a white light. She couldn't recall what else had happened, and at the moment, she didn't care. The greatest person, well baby, was gone, and it was all because of her parents. She sadly looked at her plate of food. It was bigger than usual, but that hardly compared to what was next to it, a smaller plate of food. But it what was on that plate that shocked her, it was the fact it was on her old Baby stool.

Her parents had just come in, with small smiles on their faces. "Hello Star, how are you feeling this mourning?" He mother politely asks. Star chooses not to answer as she crosses her arms, wondering why they would even ask that question.

River decided to step in. "Star, we know that yesterday was not the best of times for you, but know we had to do what was best for the both of you."

Star still pouts as she gives no reply. What was with their smiles? Why did they seem so happy when she felt so terrible? And what was with that Baby stool?

"Star, just know that we love you, and that we had to do what we needed to do, for both you and your brother." Moon smiles as she gives out her news.

Star finally gets fed up with this act. "Why?! Just why!? Why did you make him leave?! Why did you get rid of someone that made me so happy?! And why are acting like it was for the best for me and..." she pauses as she relizes what she was about to say. "Did, you say.."

Suddenly, right behind them, a loud "Sta" echoed the room.

No, they didn't, they, this had to...

And sure, right that very second, River lifted up the source of the sound, which was the baby, in now more formal baby clothes. "Star, meet your new baby brother, Quartz Butterfly."

Star could not believe. Never in her short life had her parents changed their minds on something so big, and she was not about to let such an opportunity pass by. She shot out of her chair like a rocket, and grabbed the baby from her father's hands. "Thankthankyouthankyouthanyouthankyouthankyou!" She constantly repeated as she began to twirl around with the baby in hand, not caring how dizzy she, or the baby for that matter, was getting. The parents of now two children could only smile as they watched them both in happy ecstasy. It was like watching two beautiful, bright and luminous stars in perfect alignment, dancing before their very eyes, inspiring hope for a bright future.

"I promise you, magic baby, I will never let you go." Star vowed, knowing she would do anything to keep her brother and herself together.

* * *

 _I just love fluff. It makes me happy and leaves me with a warm feeling inside_

 _Steven= Quartz Universe._

 _Rose Quartz= Rose Guard._

 _More on the Gems's history with Dimensions will be revealed later._


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone, so glad that this Story has caught a little more attention, so here's another chapter in thanks.**

 **I own nothing.**

* * *

To say that little Quartz Universe (when asked about the middle name, it was because Star kept insisting the universe was what brought him to the family) Butterfly's arrival was welcomed would be a complete understatement. When it was announced that the royal family had taken in a new member, the whole kingdom was in an uproar of excitement. For days on end the streets would celebrate the arrival of Mewni's new prince. But none of them could ever match the excitement on Star's face. Now wherever she went, she made sure that her brother was not far behind. Often, that meant she would wait by in his crib and wait for him to wake up, sometimes for hours on end. She would be there when he awoke, when he was being fed, even when his diaper was changed, something that she later came to regret on her part. Nothing would stop her from leaving his side, not food, not fun, not even her own tiredness. Sometimes she would just knock out right beside him while waiting for him to awake. This sight was completely adored by her parents. From a distance, they watched as Star filled in her role as a sister. She fit perfectly into the role. Whenever they managed to grab hold of the baby, Star would latterly try to fight them for it, not really willing to share him with anyone else. "I found him! Why can't I be his mother!?" She would innocently shout as that made her parents smile all the more.

Quartz himself well, in simple words, was amazing to be around. He was surprising mature for a baby. He hardly ever got fussy whenever someone held him, in fact, he seemed eager to be held, and even more so by new people. There were hardly any words that could describe his presence. He always seemed to bring on this, brightness in people that made people feel better. Whenever River was frustrated with any monster that tried to steal from them, Quartz would always be near to sooth his rage with his laugh. Whenever Moon was irritated with Star's constant silliness and flightiness, Quartz would always be their to hug her, to ease her headache. And whenever Star was bored with her life, Quartz's smile would always snap her out of her funk and inspire her to be the fumets sister ever. And after a really hard day of making decisions for a kingdom, protecting their corn, and making sure that the multiverse is still in balance, Quartz really helped remind them of what was really important, and filled them with hope.

* * *

Peace and silence was a welcomed thing at the castle of Mewni, mostly because given the usually standard, it was pretty rare thing to have. Only a few times a month did the castle have it. Its resident princess always made sure that the castle was as lively as possible. She usually would ride the rails of the stair way before littlerly flying out the door and landing on one of the wild unicorns that she "tamed." But now, in the night of the castle, the know 10 year old princess was a quiet as a church mouse. She was uncharacteristicly silent as she sneaked around the castle. Wearing nothing but her pajamas, she tiptoed to the room across the hall. Everything was set for tonight, and she could only hope that it would go off without a hitch.

Within the room she snuck in, she looked around. It was well decorated, with various stars and planets mapped out across the wall and ceiling. Even the bed itself, was star shaped, and on that bed was a sleeping little five year old boy in reddish pajamas. He had slight, roundish features with a head full of blackish brown curly hair. The clothes he wore had various yellow stars throughout it. On his cheeks however, were small, bright red star wear his dimple would have been. He was hugging close his moon shaped pillow, not having a care in the little world that his dreams put him in. He was at peace, soo cute, and so precious. What inconsiderate, rude, single minded person would dare to interrupt such a...

"Quartz! Quartz! Little Universe, WAKE UP!" The little girl shouts, jumping on to his bed. Quartz, in complete shock as he shoots up and starts to hyperventilate loudly. Star immediately places her palm on his mouth in order to get him to calm down. Slowly, Quartz's breathing gets a little easier as he stares at his hyperactive intruder. "Its okay Quartzy, its me, your awesome sister, the greatest thing in your life!" She loudly whispers as she stares deep into his dark, brown eyes. She finally lets go of his mouth once he had calmed down, though this did not make the scowl he had disappear.

"What are you doing here Star? Its, the, its like the middle of the night." He said, very, very tired. His eyes were dark and puffy. "Mourning's not for like, another five hours. Why, why, why.." He stammers of, falling back asleep, before Star promptly shakes him awake again, once again igniting a scowl at the older sibling.

"Duh, its already tomorrow, and you know what that means?" Star tries to make him guess.

"Uh, that I would be better prepared to kick you out of my room if I wasn't so tired?" Quartz sarcastically asks.

"No, its you birthday today! Or more accurately , the day that you came and saved my life and became my brother!" She exclaimed as she gave her brother a tight hug. "I wanted to get the celebration started early, so I brought you this!" She takes out something from behind her back, and shoves right in his little face. It was a package with a chocolate brown cat face on it. "Its your favorite!" She sings out.

Quartz inhales loudly. "Its, its, is that, is that a Cookie Cat straight from the Cookie Cat Dimension!?" Quartz whispers as loudly as he could.

"Yup the very same. You never stopped singing there theme song the first time you tried it, so I'd figured you like some on your very special day!" Star smiles. "It was a little tricky trying to get them past all the guards, but I managed to sneak in a few dozen, hundred, maybe even more in a special compartment. She reminisces. She gets a good look at the little bot, who in no time at all at the entire frozen treat.

"Ice cream for breakfast! Thank you, thank, thank you Star! Your the best." Quartz shouted, not caring that his voice was getting to loud. Star couldn't help but smile. They were closer than anybody in a family could be. They always had each other's back, and they would always be on the same page.

"Yep, I always know what to give you, I'm your sister." She smirks a little mischievously as he leans in to hear more. "I can show you where my secret stash is, but first you must follow me." She said elusively as she got up and dragged him by the arm."

"Wait, Star, we can't go out now! Our parents are still sleeping. If they find out that we've been sneaking out of out rooms before they get, we'll.."

"Oh precious, little, naïve Quartz. You know I've done this type of thing plenty of times before. You know they never find out my little anitcs." She smirks.

"Oh, you mean like that one time you and pony head decided to "go camping" and ended up stealing all those troll's treasure." Quartz dryly remarks.

"Hey, they steal our corn all the time! All that money was payment, plus tax for stealing it!"

"Or like how you decided to "take a stroll" so you could go out on a "date" with that Tom guy?"

"What? He's cute. Besides, anyone that can manipulate fire that good definitely deserves a little attention, if you know what I mean." She blushes as Quartz rolls his eye's.

"I'm just saying, that guys a creep, and he rubs me the wrong way, plus he's a jerk."

"Oh, your just mad that he played that prank on you. Its all harmless fun." Star dismisses as if it was nothing.

"He lit my trike on fire! When I was still in it!" Quartz hissed.

"Details, details, anyway, we're here!" Star announces as she points towards what they were heading for. It was a large room, nothing really standing out from any all room in the castle, all except for one small detail. In the center of the room, was a small, blue staff. It has a big blue crystal heart on top of it, and it was displayed in some sort of case.

"Is that..."

"Yep, little bro," Star announces as both of their eyes glimmer in awe. "that's our families most prized possession, our greatest treasure, and possibly the most powerful thing to ever exist, the wand!" She eagerly said as they both got closer to it.

"What are we doing here star? I mean, its nice to finally get a close look at what Mom always carries around, but what are we..."

"Silly boy, the wand is why were hear. While they are asleep, we can grab the wand and use it for ourselves!" She shouts, expecting her brother to share the same enthusiasm as her. Unfortunately though, this brings a look of hesitation on his face.

"Star, are you crazy! We're talking about the thing mom says could destroy the entire universe! We can't just take it, especially not while they're asleep!" Quartz warned.

Star obviously ignored this as she closed in on the case. "Look, its your special day, Quartz. You get to have fun the entire day! What's more fun than breaking the rules while holding on to one of the most dangerous pieces of magic?"

"Ah, doing it without the possibility of being grounded?" Quartz threw out, but not before noticing his older sister removing the glass case on reaching out for the wand. "Star, don't you dare!" Quartz warned. Star looked at him blankly, as she continued to reach for it. "Don't you dare!" he repeated, only for star to continue her goal. "Don't!" he warned one final time. Star, as before, ignores her brother's caution as she finally grabs the wand.

"Finally, now lets see" Star starts, and without warning, she accidently releases a blast of energy at the wall, breaking it, leaving it open to anything on the outside.

"Cool." Star awed, more concerned over how awesome that looked over how much damage she was causing. "Lets see if I can summon a puppy!" She shouted, but before she could call anything else with the wand's power, Quartz grabbed to it, trying to pry it from her hand.

"Okay Star, that's enough. We can drop everything know before they wake up, and they might believe that everything we've caused was a freak accident." He tugs on the blue scepter, only to meet her sister's resistance.

"No Quartz, we're not leaving until we've had fun with this. Come on, Quartz, I'm doing this for you." Star said with a little irritation in her voice.

"No, no, you've done enough with the Cookie Cat. Just lead me to your stash and I'll be cool." Quartz said with equal hesitation, not willing to let his sister, or himself for that matter, get in trouble over a present.

Neither was willing to let up. Soon, the little pair of siblings began a game of tug of war as they both fought over the wand. Occasionally every once in a while, a blast of energy came out of the wand, dropping whatever the spell made on the outside of the castle. They fought like that for about ten minutes before either of them said something again.

"Star, what are you doing here! This is too much! Just, just stop already!"

"No, NO! I'm not stopping until we have some fun here. I'm doing this all for you!"

"No you're not! This is for you!" Quartz shouted, finally letting go. "This has all been about you! Its always about you! I would've been fine with that one cookie cat, but you had to turn it to one of your exploits! You made it all about you, like you always do!" He angrily scowled as Star finally looks down, dropping the wand in her hand.

Neither said anything as they both stared at the broken wall. They watched as the stars still shimmered in the skies as the night, still so very young, began to brighten up a little. Each of the siblings had a look of regret on their faces, wondering how something so innocent became so bad, so quickly.

Quartz wondered if he went completely out of line there. Sure, Star often did as she did whenever she wanted to, but that was okay. She often made life in the castle fun and exciting whenever anything seemed bleak and boring. They often only did what she wanted to do, but it was always exciting to do. She never disappointed him before. And if he had to be honest, he loved always being around his big sister.

Star took the time to ponder this as well. She wondered exactly how much time the two of them have been together. She wondered how many hours, days, week of fun they had, were all her ideas. She sighed. Nearly 90% of the time, they always did something she wanted to do. She planned it out, she dragged him into her schemes, and whenever they got caught, they both got into trouble. Was she that selfish? Did she even consider how uncomfortable he might've felt doing her stuff all the time. Quartz was the most precious thing in her life. To see him uncomfortable made her sad, and to see him angry at her, that, that, that made her feel just absolutely awful.

Finally, the two siblings decided to turn to each other, though they both had trouble staring each other in the eyes.

"Hey, maybe, I, just.." Quartz stumbled

"No, I, I think, you know, I, think.." Star stammered, also at a lost for words.

"Look, Star, I'm sorry that I yelled. I, I had no room to talk, and, and after all you've done for me, I should be happy for every.."

"Noo, I, if, I know I can be a bit, pushy, and i'm sorry that I constantly put you my..

"No, I love your adventures! I love that you always involve me, that you always bring me along. Your a great sister for that, and I couldn't be happier to be your brother." Quartz said sincerely as he leaned in for a hug.

"Oh Quartz, you know I'll always bring you along. You, your the best part of my adventures. Your smile, your laugh, and your amazing ability to make up songs on the fly." She patted as she continued. "I never, ever wanted to make you upset or uncomfortable, and i'm sorry that I've ever made you mad."

Both little children stare at each other, happy that they had finally made up. They continued to hug, not noticing the noises of struggle as a hand appeared I front of the hole.

"Lets make a promise: I promise to always make you a comfortable as possible and do as you wish 50% of the time." She smiled as she held up her hand. Likewise, Quartz did the same.

"And I promise to always be grateful as your brother and be by your side for every adventure you go on." Quartz vowed as they both chuckled in the semi silliness of the situation.

Suddenly, they both turned their heads to a sudden slow clap. They watched as they saw a small, bird like creature with a skull hat and long, big, rag like loincloth.

"Touching, truly touching. Seriously, their nothing more beautiful than the bonds of siblings." He said with a nasally, high pitched voice. "I wish I could speak from experience, but, ehh, that's a whole can of worms that I don't care to open. Besides, with the power I'm going to have, I'll be to busy with conquering the universe to care about family. Now," he said with a sudden demand in his voice. "Hand over the wand."

Both of the siblings stare at him as if he had grew a second head. "Why would we ever do that?" Star said, picking up the wand from the ground.

"Ah, because i'm Ludo, duh?" The kids continue to stare blankly. "Your parent's, like greatest enemy?" The still don't say anything as they stare. "Come on! Mewni has been trembling in fear from my near prescience!"

"How's that possible? Your no bigger than us, and your more, appearance challenged than scary." Quartz stated, trying to be a helpful as possible on that last comment.

Ludo just faced palmed as he dumb fondly stares at them. "You know what, this can wait. "Hand over the wand now, or face the consequences!" He threatened as they continue to stare at the little bird man.

"What consequences?" they both say.

"Behind me is and army of the most fearsome monsters anyone has ever seen, and they will.." He looks back at the hole, only to see that no one was behind. "Hello!? Is anyone their?! I'm suppose to have a terrifying army behind me!?

"Sorry sir, we're doing the best we can!" A voice shouted out as Ludo looks down. He saw all of his monsters trying to climb up and failing. "We ate all of the rope, so we're doing the best we can."

"Why would you eat your rope, especially when we're still using it!?"

"It was made out of licorice and sugar, and we didn't eat dinner today!"

"Why didn't you eat dinner!? We had plenty of time!" He shouted as he turned back at the children. "Look, even without them, i'm still a formidable..."

smack

A bubble forms around the two royals siblings, preventing Ludo from what he desired. "Oh come on!" He shouted as he banged on the bubble. He gets louder and louder as his attempt become more desperate.

"What's going on!" Shouted an authoritative voice. All three little beings look at the source as the see an irritated King and Queen of Mewni. "Who has been making this racket, and who broke down the wall.

All three little beings saw the compromising position they were in. However, the siblings at the same time come to a solution to not only their intruder problem, but to the little mess they made.

"It was all him. He tried to steal the wand." They both say simultaneously as they point at him. The two elder royals angrily stare at the little bird creature as they prepare to eject him from their premises, very, very painfully.

"Oh poop." Was all Ludo could say before being brutally pummeled by the two matriarchs.

* * *

"Here you go, Quartz." Said the fatherly tone of River as he handed a small, strangely shaped present to his son. Quartz eagerly opened it as he widened his eyes and gazed upon a new, shiny, ukulele.

"A new one! Thank you thank you!" Said the elated prince as he began to play his own birthday song. All of the royal family was their, on both sides. Normally, this would be cause for fighting, seeing as any reunion with the two families resulted in chaos and impromptu wrestling. But not today, today, both families seemed at peace, as if they were trying their best not to disturb the special day.

"I can't believe it, I simply can't believe I'm alive to see it." Said the surprised Moon Butterfly. "How is it, out of all the reunions, weddings, and funerals, that this the one time of year that our families actually get along?"

"My dear, don't underestimate the power of a positive influence." Chuckled the king. "Quartz's happiness is a gift to all, as well as infectious. I suppose no one wants to fight around him simply because it would ruin it for him."

Moon couldn't help but smile. She knew where Quartz came from, and she often pondered whether or not this was the right choice for him. On one hand, he had a charm to him that affected everyone he was near, and Moon loved him as her own. He has made a great influence on Star, and now her family wasn't trying to kill her husband's family. But still, he had a legacy, his own destiny to fill, and she wondered if this is what _she_ would have wanted.

"He's getting more powerful, hun. We're going to have to advance his own training." Moon mumbled just clearly enough for her husband to hear.

"I know. Next week, I've already arranged for a few tutors to help with out. But are you sure, hun? He's only turning five now. Isn't that a little early."

"Quartz is rather exceptional with his current abilities now. All he needs is the proper push. Besides, this isn't just for his sake" she wanders off as she spots her daughter right next to Quartz, happy for him as he blew out the candles. "Its for Star as well.

* * *

 _Whew, thought I'd never get this in. Please tell me what you think._


	4. Chapter 4

**Whoa, nearly 9000 words! I expected this do be at least 5000, but I just had so much fun writing it that more ideas just flew into my head. Luckily my schedule's clear for the next few days, so I had all day to write this. I'm surprise how much attention this story has gotten ever since I've came back . I love to see how much people adore this idea I had. Enjoy**

 **I own nothing**

* * *

Being in a magical kingdom in a far away dimension, it is pretty normal for things around it to get pretty weird and wild. The citizens of said kingdom were accustomed to it. In fact, it was considered an odd day if something didn't happen.

That day, just so happened to be today. It was already past lunch, and nothing eventful had happened. Tons and tons of the citizen were roaming the street, just waiting for something chaotic to happen. The lurked in the shadows, walking along the walls, making sure they were ready to duck and cover if the moment called for it. But, nothing. It was, as hard as it was to believe, a normal day in Mewni.

It just so happened that the arbitrator to all of this uncanny calmness happened to come from Mewni resident 14 year old princess, Star Butterfly. She was just sitting out on the ledge of the castle, with a rather somber expression on her face. Oh how could it all go so wrong? How did she screw everything up so badly? And, oh, why did _he_ have to take the fall for her?

She was so lost in thought, that she hardly noticed the little ripping sound made right behind her, and she didn't turn around to see the flying sentient horse head pop out from the rip in time and space with a pair of scissors. "Yo, what up, Star?" The elated princess pony head announced as she put away her scissors. She floats right in front of the saddened princess, who doesn't even bother to look up. "Come on, come on! I'm the one who's suppose to have the long face! You should be celebrating! Your 14, you have the most powerful tool in the universe! Why are you all up in here mopping about?" The floating head pressured on, trying to squeeze it out of her long time friend.

"A, ah, a Pony Head?" Star finally speaks out, in a soft, sad tone. "Do you, have ever felt bad about something you do, and feel really bad when you don't own up to it, especially when others might be affected by it?"

"Nee-ope." The horse head bluntly stated. "I never have regrets! Cause everything I do is awesome and always right." She brags on about herself with a smug expression, though that seems to make the princess even more sad as see continues to groan.

"Come on, what wrong with you? And where's the little Q-fly? Today's the day of our monthly bet. We try to outmatch each other in a cutest face contest, and I do not plan on losing a 25th time." She spoke, and Star moans even louder at the mention of her little brother.

"Y-yeah, my, ah, actually, this, he's kind of the reason why I'm so bummed out at the moment." Star says with a little distaste in her mouth.

"OOOO nonononono! Girl, what did that boy do!?" Pony head says with genuine shock in her voice.

"Ah, ha, haha, ha, yeah, that's, that's the thing." She said very uneasily. "It, it was all me. I, I put my brother in loads of trouble." She says as she begins to remember. "It, it all started yesterday, on the morning of the celebration..."

* * *

flash back, nearly 20 hours ago.

It was a bright mewnian morning, and all was calm in the castle, for the most that is. The princess had yet to wake up, so for the time being, it was quiet. Star laid in her bedroom, not thinking about the responsibilities that she was about to uphold within the next few hours. She laid calmly, not really feeling in the mood to get up. She waited this long to get the wand, so maybe the rest of the kingdom could wait another...

"Butterfly Bomb!" A voice shouted from up above. Star immedietly reacted by sitting up straight, though this did little to prepare her for what came next. All of a sudden, about 110 pounds of body mass fell on her shoulders, having being dropped from the ceiling. Star, having literally no time to properly react, just fell face first onto the floor as her morning attacker landed on her back, and sat up as he crawled towards her head. She smiled as the little arms of her brother hugged against her head, as he leaned forward, now looking at her face to face, upside down.

"Hello! How was that?" The 9 year old Quartz questions.

"Hmmm, late me see, about a 8 on the surprise scale, a 4 out of five on the tackle meter, and as always, a three out of three on the cuteness measurer." She elatedly chuckles as she grabs ahold of the little Gem boy, now throwing him into the air repeatedly.

"Whoa, let me done, le, let me down!" He cheerfully screamed as he struggled to get his words out with all the laughter he and Star were both emitting.

"Hey." Suddenly, out of nowhere, Moon Butterfly enters her daughter room. "I know that this is..." She trailed off to look at her daughter, who was still throwing Quartz into the air. Star was able to get one good look at her, before freaking out, and throwing her brother a little to hard the next time he landed.

"Oh hey mooooo..." He was able to speak out before Start threw him again with an unexpected amount of force. Acting solely on instinct, Quartz summoned a spikey ball as he flew through the air. He ended up colliding with the ceiling, crashing halfway through it as he dangled from the sky. "Hey mom!" He spoke again, this time his voice all echoey from the bubble. "Whatcha doing? I'm just, hanging around with my sister." He chuckles at his own bad pun as Star tries to look at innocent as possible, something she's always failed at doing.

"Hey, Mom. I, I, he ha, well, you see, me and Quartz have this ongoing contest on who can come up with the best wake up call and I was, and he.." She struggled to say, not really prepared to explain the craziness of the situation.

"I don't want to know." Moon said with a slight sigh. "Well, actually I do want to know because this explains why there are so many cracks in the walls." As if to emphasize her point, the walls of Star's room begin to crack up a little, and in no time at all, Quartz fell to the ground, as well as a chunk of the ceiling, from which he was protected from by his bubble. "But I'll put that aside." Both children sigh in relief. "For now." The Children begin to shut their mouths. "I just came to tell Star to get ready. The ceremony starts in three hours, and I don't need any crazy or destructive antics to happen before hand. Do I make myself clear?" She said with a stern gaze that made the children shrink a little with fear. The Queen waits for no answer as she leaves. Once again, the children sigh in relief as they turn to face each other.

"Oh, that, that was close. I thought for sure she would go all super psycho discipline on me again."

"I don't know why you always about that. It only happened one other time."

"Yeah maybe. But you don't have to live in constant fear of it every time you do something. Your always on her good side." Star said a little irritably. "Why single me out?"

"Hey, she our mother." Quartz countered. "That's her job. And maybe she'd be a little easier on you if you'd at least give her a head's up before you do something reckless."

"No, that completely defeats the purpose! If I told her what I do, then I'd never be able to do anything! What am I suppose to tell her? 'Hey mom, I 'm going against you warnings and going off to fight monsters that may or may not have a blood oath against me for something I may or may have not done to them.' No with her, its all, 'don't mess with the cornfields, Star. Don't use the guards as target practice, Star! Don't use your food as weapons, Star!' What else am I suppose to do with it!? I'm trying not to be wasteful!" She shouts as she spits right in his face.

Quartz just wipes away the saliva from his face. "You really don't see it, do you?"

"What?"

Quartz just slaps his forehead as he tries to hold it all in. "I'm just saying, you need to heed Mom's warning, especially today of all days." Quartz warned, getting a little more serious. "Today you start a big moment in your life, and you definitely do not need anything to mess it up. You don't want to go to, that place, do you?" He says with fear.

Star immediately knew what he was talking about, and it sent a shiver down her spine. Her mother had been talking about it for months now, to send her to Saint Olga's school for Wayward Princesses. That place, oh it gave her nightmares. Everyone in the princess community had sworn to try to help each other stay off the radar. Heck, she couldn't even tell you the number of times she and pony head had to help each other to cover some of their more, questionable antics. In fact, if Quartz wasn't such a good confider in secrets, she would've been sent to that prison ages ago.

Despite the whole warning, Star continued to shove it off as she brought forth a smile on her face. "Oh Quartz, your so cute when you get all worried for me." She laughed off as he squeezed his cheeks, causing Quartz to playfully role his eyes. "Nothing's going to bring me to that awful place, and nothing, and I mean nothing, is going to separate us. Now, on to more pressing matters..." She says in a voice that actually makes you think she was being serious, until she laughed, bopped Quartzes nose, and made a dash for the door. "Race you to the bottom!" She screamed cheerfully.

Quartz, deciding to push he worries aside for now, smiled as he leapt out the door, and raced right beside his sister. Both young royals cheered as they tried to gain the advantage. Star, being the eldest, was of course, in the lead. She pushed aside anything in her way, hallway armor, guard, maids, that weird mime that was there for some reason. Nothing would stand in her way, absolutely no...

boing boing boing.

Star, not slowing down, slightly turned her head to the left as tried to follow the sound. She saw the sight of her brother, and she saw him walking on the walls. He used all the strength he had in his legs and used them to bounce back and forth on the walls. He laughed as he sees himself gain the advantage and lands on the ground. "Hah, maybe you should try paying attention to Mom's magical lectures. You'd never know what you might learn." He giggles as Stars reaches out to grab him in frustration.

"No fair! You were born with your magic."

"Hey, I can't help it if its apart of my natural ability." Quartz brags. Unfortunately, he does not see the flight of stair right in front of him, so he's taken by surprise as he takes his first step, and is thrown into the air. He panics a little, making sure to focus on not falling. He begins to slow his decent, and it looks a like he would land on the ground nice and safe. He did not, however, account for his sister.

Star, not wanting to be beaten by her younger sibling, jumped on the stair rainging and leaned forward to increase her speed. She of course, did not think twice about it, and forgot all about safety, and slowing down, and most of all, stopping. So as soon as she hit the end, she was sent flying into the air, right into her brother as he was about to land. They both crashed, and found themselves covered in the broken and scattered remains of some of the nearby armor decorations.

"Ha, how's that for natural ability?" She laughed, believing she had gotten the best of her brother. Both kid just laugh in utter amusement as they try to regain their balance.

"Okay, assuming your going to be like this until the ceremony, what do you suggest we do, before anyone comes by and sees the mess we've made, again." Quartz asked, his point being all the more prevalent by the chandelier shaking, and the family portrait behind them falling off, tearing right through them.

"Hm, I think I can think of a thing or two to do." She smiled very suspiciously as Quartz suddenly got a very bad feeling about this.

* * *

"You just had to disturb them, again!" Quartz said as he and his sister found themselves back to back, fighting back a who's who of monsters in a dark and damp cave. Star pulled a left hook as Quartz summoned his shield and deflected a sword slash. He pressed against his sister's back, signaling her to lean down, allowing the little boy to flip over and kick another monster in the face. The creature whined in pain as Star turned around and gave him yet another kick in the face.

"To be honest, I don't know why i'm fighting them. This is either the batch of monsters that want to destroy me for stealing their prize artifacts, or the ones that are just sore over stopping them from stealing the corn." Star managed to say as she gave a round house kick to a bee like monster.

"Really? Because I thought this was the batch of monster's you disturbed the banquet of." Quartz suggested as he lifted up his hand, and brought forth a small but bright, shiny, and spikey ball. He chucks over a small group of the monsters, causing them to explode. He walks over to a bear like creature, and holds him slightly by his shirt. The creature seemed slightly scared, thinking the little boy was going to do something worse to him. To his surprise, the boy instead continued to talk. "Hey, uh, exactly why are you trying to destroy my sister? I need to debate whether or not I need to feel bad about this."

"I, I really don't know. I think it has something to do with treasure that she stole, though I'm personally just going along with everyone else. I, I like being apart of a crowd."

"Really? You just doing it because everyone else is?" The bear creature nodded. "You know, the best way to fit in a crowd is to be different from it, right?" The bear's eye's widen in shock. "It's true. If you do everything everyone else does, than nobody's ever really going to notice you specifically. Do something unique, not only for everyone else's sake, but for your own as well."

The bear smiles as Quartz help him to his feet. "You know, your right! I am an individual! I'm going to stop following the crowd and stand out as my own be..."

Sadly, the little boy does not get to see the fruits of his little speech as Star, swinging from the cave stalactites, gave him a giant kick to the face, knocking him out unconsciously.

"Star!" Quartz said quite irritably as his big sister picked him up and put him on her back as she ran for her life. "I was getting through to that one. I think he actually wanted change for the better."

"Oh sweet little Quartz, your naiveté is as endless as your cuteness. When are you going to learn that monsters, especially those that try to destroy me, never change?"

"But how many of those monsters want to destroy you just because you did something to them first?" Quartz countered a little accursedly. Fortunately, for Star at least, her answer was interrupted by a sudden cave in. Rocks and boulders of various sizes begin to chase down our young royals. Star screamed with delight as the adrenaline finally kicked in, allowing her to run at full force, while Quartz just screamed in terror, barely able to hang on by a finger as he saw how they were literally seconds away from being 6 feet under. They barely saw the end of the tunnel as Star launched herself forwards, landing both herself and her brother on the dirt floor as the cave closed in on itself. Both of our young royals were breathing heavily as they got up. Star, from the utter thrill she had just received, and Quartz, from the brief time he swore that his heart stop beating.

"Star, you know that I love you, and I live to be along side you as you take this journey called life, but wasn't that cutting a little close?"

"Are you kidding me?" She shouted as she began to hop up and down like a hyperactive bunny on a sugar rush. "That wasn't nearly close enough! Life is going to be just a dangerous with me carrying that wand around. If we can survive this without it, than we can survive anything with it!" She reasoned as she searched the area for something. "Now all I need is a wild warnicorn to ride around on so that I can make my epic entrance at that ceremony thing." She elatedly said as she tried to run. Luckily, Quartz manage to grab ahold of her dress, making her stop at the feeling of the tug.

"Star, I know I can't stop you from making a epic entrance, so let me at least take care of how we deal with this." Quartz then whistles as loudly as he could, slightly confusing his older sibling. But soon, both heard a mighty roar. They turned and saw a giant pink portal in the sky, and both siblings knew then exactly what happened.

"Whaa, bu, I, did, I, a, I , I thought that he ran off?" Star asked as she continued to stare in awe at what she was witnessing.

"Eh, he does his on thing most of the time, but he always comes when I really need him. Now come on, we don't have much time." Quartz said as he walked towards the portal, dragging his sister along for the ride.

* * *

5 minutes later

It was a full turnout. Nearly all of the kingdom turned up to witness the grand event. Not only was the most dangerous weapon about to be passed on to the little adventurous princess, it would also show off exactly what the future held for the kingdom. Five minutes had passed and the ceremony was about to start. While the citizens were getting ready to watch the all important event, the King and Queen of Mewni held unimpressed expressions on their faces as they waited for their daughter to show up.

"I can't believe it. Today of all days, she couldn't arrive just a little bit early." The irritated Queen sighed.

"Relax my dear." The King tried to calm her down. "I'm sure she's just celebrating early. Her brother's with her, isn't he? Quartz is responsible enough to know to bring her on time."

"Yeah, on his own, but with Star? You know the influence they have on each other works both ways, right?" The Queen rubbed her head as she closed her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm handing the wand over to the right child."

"Moon, dear." River placed his hand on her shoulder. "Star may be a bit, enthusiastic, but today is her day to prove herself. Let her works speak for themselves." Both gave each other a small smile as the room began to suddenly shake. The citizens looked worried as they prepared for the worst, though Moon and River stayed still, knowing fully well what was about to happen next.

A giant, bright and glowing pink circle appeared in the air as a thunderous roar popped out from it. Then, jumping out from it came a bright pink lion that skidded its way onto the floor. On top of him was the little prince of Mewni on the front, with his older sister riding right behind him. Leaving no time to calm down, Star leaped off the Lion and preceded to approach her parents in a hyper and giddy fashion. She huffed and puffed without break as she reached out from the wand. Her parents once again put on their stern expressions as Moon prepared to hand out her staff.

"Now Star, taking this wand is a big responsibility." Her mother warned as she tried to keep it out of the reach of Star's grabby hands. "If it falls into the hands of evil forces, than the universe could be destroyed."

Star, still huffing, waited for no more explanation as she snatched the wand from her mother's hand, shocking them both and making them shrink back just a little. She laughed as she held out the wand, where in a magical flash of color, changed forms. It was now mostly purple, with a bright yellow star in the middle of the end orb tip. It was surrounded by tiny hearts, which laid atop a layer of blue, and it had little white wings on the side. After brief gasp of surprise, she focused back on her parents. "Don't worry mom." she said ever so casually. "I can handle it." And with that, she skipped out of the room, swinging around her arms, with the wand in hand, as she made her way to the door. The guest began to scatter out soon after, though that was mostly because they were afraid of the giant pink cat in the room. He had done nothing upon entering, though that did not stop all the guest from hustling out the door. Soon, all that was left were the King, Queen, and pink lion, who decided to take a nap.

"So how was today's morning "run" dear." Moon said with a now lightly softer tone, though making it clear that she knew that running was the last word to describe what the duo had really did earlier.

"Oh, it, it was quite eventful, ran into some real hurdles, almost didn't make it though them. Star had to carry me halfway through it." Quartz vaguely said, remembering their near death experience with the cave in earlier.

This little moment was interrupted by the king. "Are you guys doing that thing again where you act like your talking about something else but are really talking about something you don't want star to hear?" Both gave the short statured king a look of, 'are you serious', which made the king step aside. "Please, by all means continue, i'll just, watch the corn, or something. Carry on." He awkwardly spoke as he left the room.

"Well your father isn't wrong. So tell me, how bad was it?" Moon said with a little worry.

"Eh, not as bad as previous attempts, but still.." He said as he scratched the back of his neck nervously. Quartz loved his sister very much, from her laugh to her ambitious attitude, but he knew somethings were best undone by her. So Moon long while ago made him sort of her unofficial informant so that she could at least know what was on Star's mind whenever she did something. Quartz felt nervous telling his mother about it, in fact, its why he never told Moon about some of her more life threatening exploits. "At least this time she wasn't the one who started the fight."

"Were they monsters she's disturbed in the past." Moon questioned a little skeptically, making Quartz shake his head a little uneasily.

"I, I don't get it mom. Why, why are we always at conflict with them? I get that they outnumber the Mewnians, but why even have all this, this trouble? Why can't we just have peace with them?"

Moon sighed, noting the amount of irony in that statement. "Some things aren't that simple, little Quartz. A, a long time ago, we tried to bridge peace with them, but, sometimes, some people don't want peace. Sometimes, all people want is to bring others down." She started to lower her head, a notion that Quartz did not let go unnoticed. He wondered exactly what his mother was talking about, and why she seemed so upset about talking about it.

Moon didn't stay like that for long. She began to walk as she picked Quartz and placed it him on his lion again, who awoke at the weight of the little boy on top of him. "But now's not time for a history lesson. Go on, my son. Catch up with your sister. Make sure she doesn't cause too much trouble." She chuckled as the little boy motioned his lion to leave. And with a mighty leap, the Lion opened another portal, and they both disappeared into the bright pink circle.

"He's really becoming more like her, isn't he?" The voice of River came up again. Moon just turned around to face her husband. "She always did want things to end peacefully. Its amazing how he virtually knows nothing of his mother, yet he remains to be soo much like her."

"I suppose that's for the best. She, she always tried to leave a positive image everywhere she went. She always had a way with filling you with hope. I know I needed it when the time came. I'm just grateful that I can finally return the favor." She said as she unrolled a peace of paper from her hand. "I, I just wish this fate wasn't so entangled in chaos. Will, will they be ready, dear? Can we really hope that they can make through all of this?

"I'm sure of it, my dear." River comforted as they both took a look at the writing on the paper. On it, was some sort of rhyme

 _Come together, will two little stars_

 _one of mewni, another from afar_

 _be they foe, or be thee friend_

 _beside each other till the end_

 _either chaos will begin to cease_

 _or nothing shall ever know peace_

 _for whatever these stars bring_

 _they'll lift their voices, and begin to sing._

 _and in that day there shall be a sight_

 _that will bring about the darkness, or the light._

* * *

"Come baby! Show me what you can do!" Star shouted as she stood on the outside of the kingdom. She had been waiting for this moment all her life, and it was finally here. In no way was she about to let this opportunity slide. She was going to abuse this privilege to the max.

"Okay, lets try something simple. How about, Narwhal blast!" She randomly screamed as she waved it in the air. Soon, a bunch of narwhals shoot out of the little wands, and filled the air with all of their grace and wetness. Quartz just so happened to come in as he watched her sister get to work with that wand.

"Wow." The little boy said in awe. "I don't think Mom's ever used a spell like that before."

"I know, right!?" Star screamed as she came by his side. "I just said like the first thing that popped into my mind, and poof, it appeared." She ooed as she waved the wand around even more. "Let me try something else. Cookie Cat Chaos!" She screamed. Soon, it shot out something again. This time, it launched about 50 or soo giant cookie cats into the air as they all came down on the two sibling staring in all. It all come down with a splat. Popping out of the creamy and cold mess. Star looks with pride as Quartz begins to scoop up as much of the delicious frozen treat as much as he can into his mouth. "Thnkl u ssssssoo muccch staa! He muffled as his face dripped with melted vanilla and strawberry cream.

"I know, I know, I'm amazing. I'm the best at this thing!" She bragged as both siblings made they way out of the gooey mess. "With this baby on my side, I can do anything I want!" She elatedly shouted as she prepared another spell. "Lets see, Laser puppy charge!" She shouts as dozens and dozens of the little creates rush out of the wand. They all barked and chirped as the licked the leftover cream on Star and Quartz.

"Stop, stop, stop, please, its too, its too cute for me to handle!" Quartz laughed as he was attacked by all the tongues and love from the baby dogs.

"Seriously. Mom lets you keep a giant Lion, how come she's never allowed me to bring one of these little guys home?" She questioned as they she petted one. But her question was quickly answered as the dog begin to randomly shout lasers from their eyes, some of them almost hitting the two siblings. They backed away as the puppies ran through the entrance. They yelped for joy as they began to spread everywhere and hoot their bright and destructive lasers everywhere. The citizens begin to panic as the fires tart to spread.

Both Star look at the sight in horror. "Star! Do something! Can't you, I don't know, unspell them back into the wand or something!" Quartz shouted.

"I-I, I don't know! This is my first time using this thing." She shouted as she began to panic wildly. She waved the wand around franticly to fix the mess. "ah, destructive clean up crash?" She nervously said as she stretched out her arm and pointed it near one of the nearby fires. All it did was summon a bunch of unrealistically big cleaning supplies as it made several indentions into the ground and nearby walls. What made it worse though was the fact that it seemed to help the fires spread even more. Star said She waved her wand again, hoping to get right. "Thirds time a charm. Clean destructive crash..."

* * *

about a half hour later.

Star attempts to make things better did not go over so well. She summoned spell after spell to fix the damage she was making, but no matter what she said, it somehow just added to the chaos. he tried everything. From janitor lion creature, too healing rainbows, which for some reason, also caught on fire. "You don't see that everyday." Quartz said in awe as he started to help evacuate the people. As a brave night, he dove into fire buildings, despite the warnings of his sister, as help drag out as much people to safety as he could, which was easy with all the bubbles and shields he was able to make. Though, that didn't come without cost as he began to feel dizzy as he waltzed by his sister. "You doing alright?" He said tiredly, checking on his sister's progress.

"Maybe adding destructive and crash wasn't the best choice of words." she said idly as she dragged her brother away from the spreading fire, which seem to go on and on without break. All the laser puppies running around did not help at all.

"Star, what're you doing!" Quartz shouts in shock."

"What does it look like? I'm trying to get us to safety! The guards can handle the mess. I'll just, stay out of trouble or something!" She shouted but as she made her way to the castle exit.

"No!" Quartz shouted again, planting his feet on the ground. "We can't jut leave the kingdom here to suffer! The fire is everywhere! Not to mention their might be some people still stuck inside." He said as he marched right back into the fray.

"Quartz, Quartz,, QUARTZ!" She shouted as she tried to run after him. "Why did I teach him to be brave in the face of life threatening danger!?" She regretted.

Quartz was know running as fast as his little legs could carry him. He through out his shield a couple of times, using the wind backlash to snuff out the flames. For the more bigger ones, he focused as hard as he could, an surrounded them in a bubble so that they wouldn't spread any further. He was getting successful in shrinking down the fires, but the more and more he used his bubbles, the more tired he grew. The heat growing in the air was exhausting him, making him huff and puff as he struggled to stay conscious. He was just about to make his own way to safety, when he heard a tiny, little squeak.

 _"help."_ Barely being audible enough to hear, though till close enough to grab the little prince's attention. Not letting his fatigue get in the way, he made his way toward the cry for help. It wasn't easy with all the rubble and fire in the way, Quartz had to duck dodge and jump in almost everyway imaginable just to avoid getting burned.

At long last, he made his way to the source: a little girl who didn't look much older than him. She curled up in a ball, crying herself to sleep. "Help. Help. Please help." She weakly said again as she tried to close her eyes.

"Oh no you don't!" Quartz yelled as he made the girl rise to her feet. She barely was able to regain balance as the little prince led her through the blaze. Ducking, dodging, and jumping, Quartz repeated his routine, though this time it felt antagonizing. Not only did he have to put the girl's safety above his own, he know had to use most of the stamina he had left just to keep himself awake. They were able to make through the fiery maze with little difficulty. The entrance was only a couple of yard away. He had done it. He had brought this little girl to...

crackle, crackle, crackle

Quart turned around to see what was happening. One of the bigger building was about to fall down, and their was little Quartz could do in that moment. If he tried to run for it, he risked being smashed, and he was in no condition to use any of his magic to avoid it. He took one look at the girl right beside him. She could not take this heat anymore. Jut a few more minutes in their and she could most likely die from all the smog she was breathing in. He quickly scanned the area for something he could use, when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her.

Star was right there, just a little ways behind where the building was going to collapse. In that moment, he knew what he had to do.

Star was shouting to her little brother to get out of there. She saw how exhausted he was getting out there. If he didn't do anything soon, he was going to pass out. She stepped forward, trying to reach him, but that's when Quartz did something unexpected. With all the strength he had left, he picked up the girl over his head, and he chucked her over to star, who caught the little girl just as the building crashed down to the ground, leaving Mewni's little prince trapped.

"No, NOOO, NOOOOOO!" Star screamed as she shouted his name, banging on the wall of brick that separated them. Quartz himself was spent. He had no strength left in him. With a small smile, he managed to say one word before he close his eyes. "Star."

Somehow, someway, Star heard him. She heard his last cry out to her, his last plea. It tore her up in the inside as she continued to hit the wall with all the strength she had. But it was fruitless. She fell to her knees, being filled with the guilt that this was all her fault. Her brother, her brightest Star, the best friend she could ever ask for, was going to die, all because she wasn't what her brother was, responsible, brave, and willing to clean up her mistakes.

In her river of tears, she opened her mouth, but words didn't come out. She had no idea what could be said. She had no idea why she would ever speak again after today. But, she, she felt something deep down in her. The feeling, the feeling she felt deep inside, it needed to come out. Her entire thought was on her brother, so she did what he would do when he felt like expressing hard feelings.

 _Once a long time ago_

 _I was here all alone_

 _sitting here in the sun_

 _no one to have some fun._

 _The day you came was so great_

 _I had reason to celebrate._

 _being there you always were_

 _I love you as my brother._

 _Please don't go, please don't flee_

 _we can laugh and play for eternity_

 _Never met one that was on par_

 _with the princess known as star_

 _as one, we can do anything_

 _you are why I choose to sing._

 _Oh little quartz can't you see_

 _together, forever, my brother you'll be._

With every word that she sang, tear began to flow more and more. She was just not willing to let go of her brother. Little did she know, the hearts on her cheeks began to glow a bright light as she leaned her head on it. "Please Quartz, show, me, show me that your still here."

She didn't see it, but on the other side of the damage building, Quartz laid completely knocked out. He was confined, but he has enough room to at least change his position. The stars on his cheeks glowed as his body began to flinch. He moved and moaned until he felt a sudden flow of energy. It hit him quickly, shocking him awake, but his stars were still glowing. He saw his confinement, and immediately began to cry for help. "Star, Mom, Dad, anybody, can anyone here me!?" He screamed, fearing that his voice might go in heard.

Star had finally removed her head from the brick it laid on. She was about to turn around when she noticed the glowing hearts on her face. "What the.." She began to question, as she heard a slight voice pass through her ears.

"can anyone here me?!" The voice shouted, and Star needed no time to know who was calling out to her.

"Quartz, Quartz, Quartz, can you hear me!? I'm going to try and break you out!" She shouted as she prepared to wave on last spell. "Okay, focus, do it for him Star," She spoke to her self, filled with determination. "Do it for your brother." She pointed it outward as she twirled her body around in an almost dance like motion. "Laser debris safety sweep away!" She shouted as a powerful red stream of light shout out at the pile of brick and cement. For a moment, the smoke blocks her vison, and Star starts to become worried that she might've put too much power into that one, but once the smoke clears, she sees everything clearly. She took one look at her brother. All of his clothes were torn, and he was missing a show, but aside form the small scrapes and burns on his body, and the look of fatigue still prevalent on his face, he was fine. "Quartz." The sisterly princess simply said as she ran up to her little brother, picked him up and swung him around as she did when they were younger. Quartz was too tired to fully enjoy this moment. So he smiled weakly, gave a small "thanks." and passed out once more. Star stopped spinning as she held her brother close. There was no way anything else would keep the two siblings..."

"Star, what did you do!? And what happened to your brother!?" The furious voice of Moon butterfly came in. She walked aside her husband, who was equally just a furious and shocked over what had happened.

Star was speechless as her eye widened along with her mouth. Thus was not the best situation at the moment, and she was in no condition to explain herself, so she did what she thought was the only sensible thing to do.

"Quartzneedshelpandhesavedalotoflivessorewardhimwhileigooffandthink!" She explained as she placed the little boy in her father's eyes, and both parents watched in disbelief as Star disappeared off to who knows where.

* * *

"And that's why I'm sulking here. I've been here almost the entire night." Star said as she finally finished explaining herself to Pony Head.

Pony head usually was one to not really care about mistakes, or the problems that others were facing. But hearing that, well for once, a sarcastic whaaa did not feel like the right answer. "Whoa, girl, that's, that's heavey. I don't think any amount of fun or party's will get you out of this rut? So is the little Q-fly okay?" She asked with concern.

"He's fine, he just spent most of the day today resting off the exhaustion." She sighed as she stood up. "He's brave, he's responsible, he's willing to cover my butt for every mistake I make, heck, he's even better at magic than me!" She groaned. "Why can't I be the better sibling? Why can't I be a good sister?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Pony Head interrupted. "Girl, I don't know much about this department, but I've known you almost all my life. You are fun, your bold and adventurous, your willing to take risk, you kick butt better than anyone I know, from my perspective, you are a good sister." She smiled as she watched her little speech work on Star. "And I know for a fact that the Q-fly feels the same way."

* * *

Speaking of the little prince. He had just awoken from his slumber, and noticed all the bandages on his body. He had suffered from heat stroke and had first degree burns on his arms and legs, which somehow felt as weak as blubber, yet a stiff as cardboard at the same time. He made his way to his parents chamber, where he could listen in on their conversation.

"How bad is it?" The Butterfly Queen asked, knowing that no matter what, she was going to hate the answer.

"Well, nobody died if that's what you were worried about, but.." River said with unease as he read the long report. "There are a reported 90 casualties, and about $500,000 in damages, and that doesn't cover the medical bills that we will have to pay, as well as the extra will be spending to fireproof the place. That flaming rainbow is still out there," River announced, he point being made when he looked out the window, and the fiery arc was still there. A bird flies into it, cooking it to an extra crispy dinner for someone to grab later. "All in all, this is the worse case yet for Star."

Moon just sighed again as she closed her eyes. "She was reckless. She put the entire kingdom, her brother included, in danger. I believe that we may have no choice now." Moon said with a stern gaze. Quartz eyes widen as he realizes what his mom was getting at. "I think its time to send her to Saint.."

"Wait!" Quartz busted into the room, shocking both parents. He ignored any lingering pain as he tries to get his point across. "I know that Star messed up big time, and yes it put me in danger, but you're ignoring the whole picture!" He yells, which causes the two royal adults to step back a little, not sure of what to make of a stern version of their usual happy and joyful son. "You made it my job to watch Star closely, Mom. I know that some, okay, a lot of the things that she does is crazy, and really wild, but there's good examples in those! Whenever we fight monsters, she always makes sure I'm safe, making sure none of them lay a hand on me. And whenever she does fight, she does the sake of the kingdom, most of the time." Quartz sweats a little, knowing in that moment he failed to hit his mark. "You might see her as flighty, and, well, she is.." Quartz continued, making sure that his parents were taking what he said to heart. "But she knows when to straighten out. She knows when to take responsibility. She could've just left after I leapt in to stop the fire.."

"You did what?!" Moon said in surprise, not getting that little tidbit before hand.

Quartz chuckled nervously chuckled as he tried to continue as if nothing happened. "She stayed, she helped me get a girl to safety. And when I was buried under all that rubble, she stayed by my side, making sure I was still there, still alive, and that I was able to get free." Quartz said with pride in her older sister. "She took on the most responsibility that day, and while she has some, things she can work out, I believe, no, I know that she can handle this. But she'll never get that opportunity if you send her to the reform school." Quartz pleaded, making the parents look at each other in astonishment. The children often had a knack for praising each other, but this was on a whole other level. They just seem to get better and better with every one. The question remained now, would they heed it?

* * *

Star charged into the throne room, where waiting for her was her parents. "Ah, Star, we were just.." He dad greeted, though star stopped him before he could start.

"Look I know that you guys are upset over what happened yesterday. I messed up, I used this, this great power, and I used it to royally mess up." She confessed as her parents try to talk again, only to stop them once again. "I put a lot of people in danger, especially Quartz. He's, he's my responsibility to look after when we're alone, and, and I failed at that. I, I can't handle the very thought of hurting him. I, its, its unforgivable." She sadly says a she looks down.

"What are you saying Star?" Moon asked, pondering if she was going to say what she thought she was going to.

"I'm saying, that I take responsibility for everything that happened yesterday. I'll, do whatever I can to make it up, even, even if it means going to Saint Olga's." She shivered at the mention of that horrid place, fearing that's was going to be the most likely outcome of today.

She was surprised that instead of cuffs being placed on her hands, she saw both her mother and father clapping. She swore she saw the tiniest drops of tears in her mother's face. "Quartz was right. He said that you had taken up responsibility, and you have proven his words true." River applauded, much to Star's dumbfoundment.

"Say whaaa.."

"You've proven that you can carry this responsibility, and this power." Moon smiled as she approached her daughter.

"So let me get something straight: I'm not going to Saint Olga's?" She said, almost shocked at the very possible of that impossibility.

"No." Moon said, with Star jumping for joy. "Not yet at least." Moon playfully added, making Star silent for the moment.

"Quartz said that you needed the opportunity to grow, so we're going to do something different." River spoke up. "We're sending you to a safer dimension to train in. A place called Earth."

"Earth?" Star said with confusion, not recognizing the name of that place. Though that was put aside to another realization. "Wait as in I'm leaving Mewni? What about Quartz? Is he, is he coming at least?"

"Star." Moon said softly, not wanting this to turn into another magical meltdown. "Quartz has to stay in Mewni. Part of the deal was to take some more advance lessons with me in exchange for this. You'll be able to see him, not to worry. Now run along, you have until tomorrow to prepare." Moon dismissed.

Star walked out and on the stairs. She could barely comprehend what had just happened. She had never seen her parents so cool with one of her antics before. This almost felt like a dream, one were she wasn't sure if it was pleasant or unnerving. She came to the top, where waiting for her, was her little brother, who greeted her with a bright smile.

Star, of course, felt a little nervous, not still not sure if what her mom said was true. "Hey Quartz, I'm, I'm sorry about what I did.."

"For what? Saving my life?" Quartz smiled as he lightly punched Star's arm. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I've should've waited for you to help."

"But that's the thing. Your the one who got me involved. If I had it my own way, I would've tried to hide from Mom and Dad. I, I was the one who created the fire. Your the one who contained it, who saved the girl, and the one who buttered up to Mom in order to save my hind." She said with a little shame.

"Star, I know we're both one to exaggerate, but what I said wasn't buttering up. That's what I saw yesterday, and its what I still see in you. A brave, joyful, slightly tipsy, and great friend." He moved in for a tight hug. "And an even better sister. Don't worry about moving to Earth. I'll visit whenever I can. Now lets enjoy the rest of the day."

Star could barely believe it as she followed in Quartz's lead. He truly was the best brother she could ever ask for.

She may be named star, but Quartz shinned brighter than she ever could.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone. Since I had so much writing the last chapter, I road on that thrill to help me write on this one. Honestly, this story is quickly becoming more and more enjoyable for me to tell. Now this one's shorter than the last one, and doesn't have much Star and Steven interaction, though that's because this is one of the few chapters where they're separated from each other. This chapter's really meant to establish more of Quartz's relationship with Moon, because that's like the second most important relationship he has in his life at the moment, as well as explain more of Rose's role in Mewni. Don't worry, the next chapter will have the two kids reunite, after being apart for about two months.**

 **I own nothing.**

* * *

The next few days were a little hard for both of the royal siblings. The day after the incident. Quartz and Star saw each other off as the guards placed her stuff in the carriage. It was at that moment that the two kids realized that this was really going to happen. Star would be going off world, living in a place with no magic but her own, while her brother would be at home, alone. They would be literally be worlds apart from each other, for who knows how long.

"Hey, its, its not like this is going to be forever." Star comforted as they both tried really hard to hold back any sadness. "Besides, i'm only going to be a hop, skip, and a dimensional scissor away." She said as she hugged her brother one last time.

"Yeah I guess." Quartz said idly. "But who's going to be with you when you do something crazy reckless? Who'll throw bubbles and shield's at monsters whenever your not watching your back?"

"Ah, relax Quartz. Mom and Dad said there was no magic on earth. Besides, I got this." She said as she showed of her wand a little smugly. "I'll be covered for any danger that comes my way. I'm going to be more worried about you though. What if monsters try to attack you when your guard's down? How will my little universe handle it all?" She playfully said as she ruffled up his hair a little.

"I don't think you have to worry about that. Now that your going to be away, Mom plans on keeping me in the castle more to help me with my magic." He chuckles as he goes on. "I think she's just keeping me close so I'm not ambushed by some dangerous action every other day, so maybe its a good thing your going." He smirks as he nudges his sister's arm a little, who likewise does the same.

"Oh, like you would be anywhere without me around." She says as she looks at their parents, who had just entered the carriage. "I think that's my cue. Try not to be boring while I'm gone, I might not allow you near me if you are." She jokes one last time as she hops in the carriage. She stares out at the horizon, where the castle's images slowly begins to shrink, though not by much as one of the squires takes out a pair of scissors, and sticks it in the air, where it tears a whole in the space. He widens it just enough as the dragon like creature pulling the carriage enter, bringing along everything behind it. Before disappearing into the whole in time and space, Star looks out one last time, waving goodbye to her home sadly. "Goodbye Mewni." She looks aways as she faces forward. "Goodbye Quartz." Though little did they know, hiding from afar off, was a giant, frog like man creature staring out at the sight, noticing where the Princess was being taken. He chuckle evilly as he sank into the bushes to conceal himself.

Star adventures would not end. In fact, they were only beginning. She would be in awe at the new world around her, the school she would attend, meeting her newest roommate and friend, and of course, constantly kicking the butt of Ludo, who was still after the wand.

Quartz meanwhile was having trouble adjusting to the now sudden quietness of the castle. After living with Star constant excited attitude and charm for 9 years of his life, it was like he was living in an entirely different kingdom. He expected at any moment now, Star would pop out of nowhere and drag him off to another one of her crazy shenanigans. He sighed at the practically alien palace now as he wandered off into his room. He decided the best thing to do for now was to fill the void with the second best thing: music. He picked up the Ukulele he had gotten for his birthday, and began to play a few strings.

Music was something he really gotten into when he was younger. During one of the family reunions, or at least, the earliest one that he could remember, the entire family was at each others throats. From the countless verbal bashings of the Queen's side of the family, to the numerous near fatal head injuries given out by the King's, the chaos at that gathering knew no bounds. River was too far for it as he joined in on the never ending fight of the two royal families, while Moon made sure to stray away from the carnage, while making sure her children her children learned something from all of this. "Now Quartz, Star." She said as she looked down at the two children. Her son, only three and a half at the time and barely able to talk, looked at her with all the concentration he had, while Star slowly looked up with a lazy gaze, looking more to the side rather then her mother. "What can we learn from all of this?"

"That fighting is awesome and we should totally do it more around the castle!" Star eagerly answered, hoping her mother would take the hint.

"Fight baaadd. Stay here, good." Quartz said in a barely audible voice, though it was clear enough to make the mother smile.

"Honestly Star, Quartz doesn't take half the lessons you do, and yet he somehow always comes up with the better answer. You could learn a thing or to from him." The Mewni Queen teased, only to duck suddenly as something almost hits her in the back of the head. "Excuse me for a moment. I must proceed to, straighten something out." She said sternly as she stomped her way, with her wand at hand, and ready to fire.

Star just crossed her arms, angry that she was being put on the side again, and that her brother somehow upstaged her, again. "Teacher's pet." She pouted as they both watched the chaos unravel. Star takes a look at what almost knocked out her mother. It was one of the little guitars that some of the squires carried. One of them just happened to be dumb enough to interrupt one of the fights between the to families, and now that gut was quite literally being thrown around like a ragdoll as his entire body was used as a war hammer. As Star watched the rather uncanny display of violence with awe, Quartz set his sights on the instrument ahead of him. It was about three inches taller than him, including the hair on Steven's head, and he was barely able to move at all with the amount of force he was able to use. He was able to get it on his lap. So with much curiosity, he strummed a few chords, trying his best to mimic players he had seen during festivals and concerts. And for a first time trying it, it was pretty good. He couldn't play anything solid, but just the melody of his rather scrambled playing was soothing, which was good for all the people suffering from concussions and other head related trauma.

He had been playing music ever since, something that both of his parents, Moon mostly, found endearing, probably because it's a hobby that didn't involve breaking bones or hurdling towards danger. He sighed at the memories as he begins to play a little tune he's bee working on for a little while. Though as he does, what he doesn't notice is that the stars on his cheeks begin to glow a little.

 _From the dawn of the day, to the end of the night_

 _together we stayed, protected from fright._

 _Nothing gave me more joy, oh the happiness I feel_

 _for the fun we had was always so real._

 _The dangers we faced, the trials we passed_

 _together we stood, nothing outclassed._

 _Everything we did, everything we'll do_

 _will always be fun because I had you._

 _together at last, we're always in sight_

 _together we stand, we'll always shine bright_

 _oh I love you, will you always see?_

 _together, forever, my sister you'll be._

He played through as the word came to his head, though, once he reached the end of the last verse, he was interrupted by clapping. He looks up in shock as he sees his mother applauding the little performance she had just seen. Quartz blushes in embarrassment as he puts the instrument back down, the white glow on his cheeks beginning to fade. "How long were you listening in?" He said as he approached his mother.

"Pretty much the entire time. You have nothing to be ashamed about. Compared to your sister's hobbies, this is a pretty welcomed thing to walk in on. You have a marvelous voice." Moon added, only to get even more blushing out of the little prince. "You do realize your cheeks were glowing again, right?"

"They were?" Quartz questioned as he touched the stars on his cheeks. "What's up with that? I mean, I get that my belly button glows when I use my shields and stuff." He said as he lifted up his shirt a little, showing off the pick gem stone on his stomach. "But you said that's just because I'm using the power from my gem. Why are my cheeks glowing? Do I have some sort of magic in my face." He asked innocently.

Moon just cracked a smile. He may have more common sense than Star in some cases, but his young naïve 9 year old mind still showed off, saying things that ranged from cute to 'awww, ain't that adorable?'.

"No, no. It is magic related, but it comes from, something else." Moon explained, though she herself was slightly unsure of it herself. Ever since the incident with Star and the magical overload, Quartz has had those markings on his cheeks. Nobody thought anything of it at first, in fact, it just cemented Quartz place in the butterfly family, more so for Star. But as time went on, Moon had started to speculate that there might be a little more to it, for whenever any of the two children used a new magic or discovered some sort of ability, both of their cheeks began to glow. When Quartz turned two, he had been watched over by Star for a moment while she and her husband were overseeing the protection the shield's over Mewni had. Star just so happened to make Quartz laugh, making Star laugh as well. Both of the marks on their cheeks began to glow, the brighter they shined the closer together they were. If that wasn't enough, Quartz started to float in the air, with Star hugging him as close as possible. If the two royal parents had been a minute later, than they would've flown right out the castle windows to who knows where. Then their was from what Star described what happened the other day in the carriage...

" _I was, I don't know, I was afraid. I, I thought that he was really gone, crushed by all that rubble._ " Star explained, having trouble reliving that particular experience. " _I, was crying, I was singing, because, that, I wanted him back. I pledge with every thought in my mind, I, I wanted to believe that he was okay. My, my cheeks began to glow then, and, I don't know? I, I felt him. I felt him cry out, I felt him breathing, being alive."_

And now there was this little moment. It only confirmed Moon's suspicions. Quartz, for whatever reason, was developing more of a magical connection then he should be. She thought helping him with the one's he already had would be enough, but it was clear now that it was time for her to intervened. Both Mother and son walked out of the room as Moon lead Quartz to who knows where. "You wouldn't have happened to be thinking of Star as you were singing, were you?"

"Of course I was." Quartz said in a tone like it should've been obvious. "She's my sister, she's my inspiration for many things, songs included. Is that bad?"

"Oh, oh of course not!" Moon reassured him. "It's actually amazing how close and connected you are. I believe that your magic might be tied to Star's somehow, which could be a good, or bad depending on the circumstances. With your magic growing and Star's just beginning, I believe for the moment, it might be best for you two to be, apart. Being so close at such a important stage could lead to some, less than desirable results for all." She said, trying to sound as nice and vague as possible, not wanting Quartz to worry about the potential danger they both wielded. Luckily, Steven just so happened to share some of Star's dismissive attitude, so he didn't try to ask or dwell on it.

Moon sighed in relief as she took to a certain part of the castle. It looked bigger than most of the rooms in the castle, and surrounding the walls were armors, though they seemed to be fitted for the female variety. Weapons of every kind were there, swords, axes, even a weird looking plant like cannon thing. What stood out the most was the art that hung high on the walls. There were paintings and paintings of various battle's. Each one of them, bloody and chaotic, some having been torn or turned around just to lessen the gruesome detail. None of them showed the same battle or war fought, though the only thing that they seemed to have in common was the person leading the front. She was a tall and muscular figure, with lightning bolts on her face and a shaven head. She hardly wore anything except for the pieces of metal attached to her body, mostly likely used for more offensive attacks. What most stood out was the weapon she bore, it was a giant, flaming sword, that looked just hot enough to burn through the painting it was in. Quartz stared in awe as Moon explained herself.

"This here, is the battle hall, or what's its come to be know as, Queen Salaria's bedroom. She spent almost every waking moment in here. Sometimes her guards had to drag her out by force just so the commission could get a word in with her. Sadly, those guards never walked again." Moon reminisces from the tales of her ancestor's feats.

"Wasn't she that battle hungry war mongrel princess that fought off that giant monster invasion." He said as stars begin to shape in his eyes. Hearing about some of the more adventurous Butterfly's was always a treat for him. It was his second best thing he loved to listen to, except for one other thing.

"Yes, she trained in this very room, but she didn't due it all alone." Moon said purposely vague, causing Quartz to lean in to listen more. She walked up to a curtain that seemed to conceal something. Moon wrap her right hand around one of the ropes that hung from it. "Exactly how much do you know about the Rose Guard, my son?"

Quartz's eyes lit up at the very mention of that name. The Rose Guard was one of Mewni's greatest heroes and diffinetly its most iconic, aside from the Butterfly's themselves. She was a legend, a fearsome fighter with the power to trample titans, with the heart, compassion, and love of a little child. Swift and determined she was with her wisdom and sword. She allied herself with Mewni's kingdom for thousand's of year's, having been friend's with the very first Butterfly. Legend even had it that she was the one who gave them the crystal that powers the family wand. She also happened to be Quartz's personal hero.

"She, she like the greatest warrior in all of the dimension's! It's said that she once prevented a plague of death by crying out for the kingdom that she grew to love dearly. She lead all the attacks of the crystal dimensions, her gemstone being able to deflect any oncoming attack. Her sword, said to be so powerful, that it could cut through anything, even pure light itself!" Quartz huffed and puffed as he jumped around like a dancing jack rabbit. Moon smiled at the irony, half tempted to tell him the truth right then and there.

"Yes, she was a valiant warrior, and a close family friend." Moon smiled as she pulled the rope, undoing the curtain. It reveal to be smaller paintings, each one of them having a different princess of Mewni on them, Quartz swore he even saw a picture of Moon when she was fourteen. What really stuck out for him though, was the tall pink lady that was in each of them. She was completely pink with even pinker curly hair. She carried a pink, straight bladed saber, and in every picture, she seemed to be working with the princesses in some way. "The Rose Guard was more than just a friend, she was a role model to all the princesses. She taught us many things, how to understand our abilities, and she was just a big bringer of hope." She smiled fondly as she turns to the eager little boy. She kneels down as she faces him eye to eye. "When I look at you Quartz, I'm amazed. You have courage, you have bravery, wisdom, energy and enthusiasm. Your bold and righteous, just as a true knight should be. You may not be related by blood, but you have shown yourself to be a Nutterfly, just like me, your sister, and everyone one that has ever taken up the name." She said proudly as small tears start to fall from her eyes. Quartz smiles as he wonders exactly where his mother was going with this.

"The Rose Guard taught me many things, and I believe that now with your powers growing, it's time to teach you what she had taught me." She said with a fond expression, causing Steven to smile even wider.

"You mean I get to be just like the Rose Guard!"

"No, little Quartz, you'll get to be you, the best version of you that you can be."

* * *

The next few weeks for Star went by without a thought. After a bumpy first day that involved arguing with her new house mate and then bonding over monster fighting, Star grew to love it on earth. Everything was new, everything was unknown and thrilling, especially when her magic started to go awry. Everything she did was great, from meeting new friends, to turning her math teacher into a troll, to playing and winning her first game of football, to almost killing another exchange student, giving her friend a sentient bowel eating octopus arm, and so on. Her life was just an never ending roller-coaster of fun and magic.

Still though, even with all the fun she was no doubt having, Star, in the back of her mind, could not forget about the little boy she had known as her little brother, who seemed to have a lot on his plate know. When she asked Pony Head on how he was doing, she said that she hadn't seen him, which meant that her mom must've been serious about keeping him close with the lessons after all. She didn't call, mostly because that meant calling her mom, and that meant telling her about her progress with Magic, which meant telling about the craziness she already went through in the short amount of time she was away. Though another part was, she was scared to. All her life, Quartz looked up at her, he was inspired by her. She didn't know what he would think of her "progress", would they have fun with it like they used to, or had he changed? Would his standard's gone up since the last she saw of him? Would he think she was too fun? Not fun enough? Or worse, would he be a clone of their mother and disapprove of it all together?

Fears aside, Star enjoyed the last two months outside of her home dimension. Of course, she couldn't stay away for long as the Diaz anniversary came up, and Star, wanting to give something to the people who made her feel at home, brought them to Mewni for a quick tour that quickly went south. After narrow dodges and fighting a giant hydra, Star was able to get out of that mess unscathed, and ungrounded as she was able to bond closer to her own father. She was contempt with how today turned out, until her father set something out of the blue that completely caught her off guard.

"Oh and Star." The Mewni King said as he came back. "I almost forgot to tell you. I would've called, but, business you know. Your brother has just completed the first half of his magical training, and he wanted to visit you as soon as possible. You wouldn't mind if he came over, i'd say, around lunch time, do you?" He asked, not noticing the shock on Star's face as she opened her mouth.

"I, ah, nu, you see, I got this.." She excused, though it was soon made clear that "no" wasn't even considered for an answer as King River walked away.

"Good, good. He'll be there around one. Have a good dear." The short statured king said as he dismissed his daughter and the entire conversation like it never happened. Star was left in shock as Marco approached her, also not noticing the shock on Star's face.

"Whoa, you never told me you had a brother. Come to think of it, I don't really know much about your family, and we've known each other for.." Marco attempted to joke, though once he saw that Star wasn't moving. In fact, all she was saying was "Bu, bu, bu.." Over and over again. Seeing as Star was not going to move anytime soon, and how his parents trying to walk around without their clothes on, Marco decided it was best just to go home. And with one swipe of Star's dimensional scissors, the Diaz's and their house guest were all home in one piece. While the parents decided to head into the bedroom, their clothes still off mind you, Marco continued to stare at Star, waving his hand infront of her as she continued to stammer. "Well, tell me when you've regained your mind. I'm going to make.." He tried to say, only for Star to snap out of it and shake Marco wildly.

"Marco, this isn't the time to concern yourself with your basic needs! We got work to do! Why are you standing around?! Get moving!" She screamed as she pushed Marco to the ground. She waved her wand everywhere, shouting out various spells to do the one thing she never does: clean.

"Tornado dust remover!" She shouts as a little tornado forms in the middle of the room, sweeping up all the dust, trash, and the occasional laser puppy in its slightly tight grass.

Marco tries to pay no heed to what Star had just did and focus more on why she was doing this. He grabs her by the shoulders and tries to calm her down. "Star, you only clean up when your in trouble or have something to hide. What's the deal here? Is your brother like the strict military type or.."

"Nononononono!" Star shouted almost accursedly on pure instinct. She finally takes a deep breath and begins to talk more clearly. "My brother is the sweetest little thing in the world! He's fun, lovable, adorable, magical, willing to endure danger. He's like a little version of me! Only younger. And a boy." She said as her voice finally gets a little more quiet. "He's been apart of my family for nine years, and those have been the best times of my life. His smile, his cheer, his amazing singing ablility. I honestly can't imagine a life without him in it. In fact, he's the main reason why I didn't go to Saint Olga's." She starts to put her head down as she heads for the couch. "He's an important part of my life, and I don't want to lose that. If he comes home, than he'll know I'm not better at this thing then a month before!" She then proceeds to panic once more. "If he comes here and finds out he's better at magic than me, then he wont think i'm awesome and we wont be buddies anymore! He'll report every screw up to mom, and she'll lose faith in me and send me to Saint Olga's, where under all the strictness and discipline my heart will harden as I begin to plot my plan for revenge!" She growled like a wild animal as Marco made sure to back away to a safe distance.

"Look Star, your probably making a bigger deal out of this than you should, but, I'll help you in any way I can." Marco said sincerely, making Star perk up with enthusiasm like nothing had happened. She shoved a large and long white paper in his hands as she skipped off to her room.

"Good, because your going to do all the cooking. Buy and make everything on that list, its all of his favorites. "Oh, and buy Lion Lickers also. He hates those things, but his per Lion is cray-cray for them. Now if you excuse me, I need to sort things out in my secrets closet." She tells off before running off the stairs.

"Fine." Marco said reluctantly as he went over the list. "Once again, its all up to Marco to.. WAIT, DID YOU SAY PET LION!?"

* * *

 _Worked on this piece all night, totally worth it._

 _Next time, Quartz makes his first appearance on earth, and Star tries her best to keep him impressed._


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone, I'm back to writing this. Its been a little hard to because school started and I'm only able to write a few hundred words a day, but the slow pace helped me develop the chapter a little more, because this chapter was way longer than I thought it would be. Now before we get into the next part of the story, let me address a few things I feel like need explaining.**

 **Connie: Yes she will be in here, she's like Steven's Marco, the smart yet adventurous sidekick that keeps the main character balanced. Now because Steven is 9 now in this story, Connie is going to be about ten, maybe 11, mostly because I think the dynamic I will have going in this story will go better if that's the case and lets be honest, a few thought though that was the case before we learned he was 14 in the show.**

 **The Gems and Greg: Like I could have a crossover like this without adding them. It wont be for a while, but they will meet up. I plan on having the explanation of Steven's arrival on mewni be something that'll pop up, especially when we get to episodes like freeze day, laser light cannon, and mewnipendence day. And when they do find out exactly where and who's been raising steven, the gems wont exactly be the most gracious of people when they meet up. Expect a lot of tension, especially from Moon and Pearl. Greg, well, I have something in mind for him, because I plan on making a big change for him, and it'll be, interesting for Quartz to find out exactly who he really is.**

 **Steven's maturity: Yeah, this is the main thing in the relationship between Star and Steven. They get along, they are always happy, they have a great brother and sister relationship. But if I write them as practically the same character who always gets along, then their would be no real point in writing them both together. Plus it does fit Steven's character. Both are prone to making mistakes, and both are quite naïve at times, but Steven in the show, he take his mistakes and correction a little more seriously than Star does. Steven tries to learn from them, while Star is usually fine with making mistakes over and over again. This is kinda the driving point for Star to be a little more mature. But all in all, steven is still 9, something that will be shown often, like when I get to my version of Fusion cuisine.**

 **Please, feel free to ask any questions in the review/PM, and i'll be sure to answer.**

 **I own nothing.**

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Silence. That was the only word that could be used to describe the moment. Within the Battle room, everything was dark, with the only shred of light being shined on only one, kneeling, central figure. He was a small figure with a bushel of curly hair. He wore some sort of armor outfit, looking like it was made for protection, but also looked pretty light for something made for durability. In the middle of it was a giant yellow star. On his soldier pads, their were two marks, on the left was a crescent moon, on the right was a small purple diamond. He was facing down with his eyes closed, as if he was waiting for some sort of sign or clue. Nothing but soundlessness filled the air. It was so quiet that the sound of his heartbeat felt like a banging drum, boom, boom, boom it went. He closed his eyes even tighter. He knew what was to come, and finally, after all this time, he would be ready for it.

Shing. Shing. Shing.

Two bright and shiny blast come out from the left side. They were like daggers of light, powerful, beautiful, and potentially life threating. They all pointed towards the little boy. They neared him, the closer they got, the more still the boy stood. Sweat begun to fall from his face as he felt the presence of the danger near him. He jut had to wait for the right moment. Too early and it would go they way he wanted, and too late he would be injured or worse. He gently opened his eyes, knowing that at this moment, it was now or never.

With all the reflex and speed he had, he tumbled to his left,, narrowly dodging the first four coming at him. He immediately jumped back up to his feet, dodging the next two coming with quick swiftness. Pulling out his shield, he angled it slightly just enough to reflect the last three blasts back to where it came. A slightly "hpm" was heard in result, though whatever that move did to affect the source, it did not hinder it long as more daggers came at him, this time, more than he could dodge, so he did the next best thing: run.

Turning the other way, the little boy ran towards the wall, seemingly trapping the young fellow as he head into it. But of course, he doesn't let that obstacle deter him as he makes a jump, and actually runs up it. Not stopping until he reached the top, he makes a sudden 360 degree turn as he launches himself forward, right after he pulled out a long and silver sword, and twirled himself in the air, knocking down any of the attacks that were in his way. He descended into the ground as he did, landing perfectly on his feet, right as he turned around and used his sword to block another attack from another sword. Pressing forward, he slashed away all the strikes made on him as he advanced his own offense. The attacks were matched with each other, none really showing any dominance over each other.

Knowing that this could take long, the little boy summoned his shield once again, this time he threw it to the side, making it bounce off the wall as it came at the attacker with mighty force. The attacker notices, and just as its about to hit its target, the attacker catches it with her hands, barely stopping it from hitting its mark. Before the figure could do anything else, the little boy held his sword next to the attackers head, just stopping it ever so slightly from making its mark. The figure, now revealed to be Moon, smiled as she had the lights turned on, revealing the little boy to be Quartz.

"Hm, it seems you finally caught me off guard." The Queen congratulated as they both lower their weapons and guards down. Each them giving off small huffs and puffs, smiling at each other as they headed towards the exit "You've down exceedingly well, my son. You've learned to control your abilities in a chaotic environment and even managed to get me by surprise."

"Does this mean..?" The little prince asked as stars formed in his eyes, knowing exactly what his mother was getting at.

"Yes, yes, you can get ready to go to earth. Star will be expecting you at lunch, so you better prepare now, you leave in two hours."

"YES! Thank you thank you!" He screamed as he hugged his mother with all the strength he had, which was quite a lot. The queen flinched a little when he did, knowing that he had a lot more in that little body than he thought. Quartz ran out of the room, excited to show off how much he had missed his sister, and how much he had learn in the past month. Moon smiled as she saw her son off. He may have been adopted, but he had all the Butterfly family traits, from her understanding, Star's endless energy, and River's boldness, all combined with his own kindness and love. She could only hope though that it was what they both needed to get through the times ahead.

* * *

Things at the Diaz residence had not gotten any slower or saner, in fact, with Star on the fritz with the whole brother visit, she was very on the edge, even more so then the exchange student fiasco. She and Marco worked day and night the rest of the day to get the house in shape, and by that, we actually mean Star used a microphone and shouted at Marco all day to prepare all the food while she used an abundance of spells to summon anything to fix up the place. It was times like this that Marco regretted his well known good boy nature, Star especially knowing how much he was willing to help a friend in need. Still, he labored through it as he made all the food for the brunch, some of the stuff that kinda made him queasy. He was pretty sure popcorn and chocolate syrup did not go well together, and who ever ate dry rice with cheese puffs?

"Okay Star, I did everything on your list, though I don't recommend eating the doughnut dogs." He said as he pointed to the hybrid food item, slightly wincing in disgust. Star meanwhile was hardly paying attention as she looked over the various snack items, inspecting the stack of waffles that had tons and tons of syrup and popcorn on it. It was smothered in whip cream, and its only "healthy" item was a strawberry, at which Star was starring at intensely.

"Marco, you need too put the berry directly in the middle! Otherwise he wont look at it!" She scream as she picked up the berry and made a big show out of putting it about a centimeter to the left. She ended up making a bigger mess than before, if the whip cream all over her face was any indication.

"Star." Marco said, whipping off the cream on his face and comforting his friend. "You need to calm down. How about you tell me about your brother before you make a mess, well, a bigger one at least."

"Well, I guess it all started when I wander off when I was five or something." She says with a rather lax tone. "I wanted to have fun, but then the cutest little baby came right up to me, and before I knew it, he saved my life from a monster with all of his baby magic!" She finishes with a dramatic flair, making Marco a little more confused.

"So he's adopted?"

"Of course. I actually don't know a lot about that. Anything about Quartz's past is unknown, except to maybe mom and dad. All I know is that his mom was probably some kind of significant figure to my mom and that theirs this prophecy or whatever about how he's suppose to save me from darkness or what not, blah blah." She casually shrugs it off like she didn't even hear the real weight of what she said, something that Marco begins to question. "What I want to know is why the snack sushi isn't right next to the dognuts! He has to have something salty and savory before having something sweet and salty!"

"Wait, what was that about.." He began to ask, when at that moment, a loud, thunderous roar ran through the air, shaking up the house as Marco ducked behind the couch for cover, while Star just stayed still, knowing full well what was going to happen next. Before she knew, out of no where, a giant pink circle appeared in the air of the living room, showing of its bright pink illuminance as both teens stare at it, Marco from shock and awe, Star from slight boredom. And right as Marco thought nothing else could stir him in that moment, a giant pink puff of fur leapt from the circle and landing right on top of the poor red hooded boy. "mmmmph. mmmmMMMMMMPPPPPPPHH!" He screamed as he pounded on the legs of the beast that sat on top of him, his cries falling deaf to the oblivious lion and scowling princess.

"Lion! You know better than to do that suddenly in the middle of a room! What if you slid into the food!?" She yelled, completely missing the real reason why she should be mad as Marco struggled to get his head free.

"Hello, being smothered to death by a giant pink cat over here! Man, what has my life become now?" Marco pondered rhetorically, knowing full well the answer to that.

"Seriously, if you weren't so adorable and awesome I'd have half a mind to tell Quartz to.." She looks around her area, now wondering where Lion's owner was. "Where is Quartz anyway?"

As she sais that, a rumble went through out the room, making everyone, except Lion of course, freeze in place as they try to figure out where it was coming from. Star turns her attention to the pink portal, which for some reason had not closed at all. The rumbling just got louder as she neared it, not sure what to expect now.

"Butterfly..." A loud echoey voice sounded in the air as the portal started to shrink. Just as the princess was going to turn away, a large, small curled up, thing of metal came out of the closing portal, right at the chest of Star.

"BOMB!" It shouted as it uncurled itself, revealing the little mewni prince as he held out his arms and wrapped himself around his older sibling. This however did not stop his momentum as he tackled her down as both collided into the oink beast. The Lion was completely unmoved as the two giddy royals slammed into his side, and continued to ignore everything else as the two fell the ground.

The little prince stood up in a daze as his sister sat up against the resting lion. Both ignored the boy on the other side struggling to squeeze himself out of the fluffy trap. "So how was that? How high was that score?" Quart eagerly stated as he greeted his sister.

"Hm, 10 on the surprise scale, 4.5 on the style-o-meter, and as if I had to say it, 3 out of three on the cuteness measurer." She stated ever so casual before embracing her brother with hug full of love. "I missed you so much! Oh, I never looked at ice cream or cats the same way after leaving! How are you doing! You look.." Star slowed down, looking at his new attire. From the looks of it, she guessed her mom was serious about the training. He looked exactly like a knight, but their was something else about it, something about the new look that felt, familiar. She didn't question it any further, already getting slightly uneased at the new look. ".. you look great."

"I know right!" Quartz responded back. "Mom had this specially designed and equipped for me. It allows to move a whole lot better while also adding protection. Watch." He said a he did a small jump in the air, and remained as he did a series of small spins a rolls. He laughed as he did, slightly getting dizzy as he continue you. One thing that Star noticed was that he didn't seem to float back down as he always did, in fact, he didn't move an inch down as he stayed in the exact same spot.

"Ohh.." Star said a little weakly as she saw her brother's display of power." I see that you've improved on your floating and stuff." She frowns as she awkwardly rubs her arm.

"Yeah. I can catch more air time now!" He said as he landed on his feet again, wobbling a little from being off the ground for a while. "So what have you been working on lately?" He questions, making Star all the more awkward.

"Excuse me, I have to,.." She tried to think of an excuse out of this but her brain was totally not there at the moment. 'come on, I did this all the time back home! Why must you fail me now?!' she mentally cursed, when she heard the moans of Marco, who was still struggling from under the belly of the colorful feline. Aha! "Help my friend, yeah! Be one moment!" She screamed as she ran over to the other side, where she stood above Marco.

"Thank you Star, I think the fur is giving me some sort of rash. What has this thing been rolling in?" He asked in relief, only for it to be completely dashed as Star got uncomfortably close to his face.

"Marco, I need I little help here!" She said, keeping her teeth closed tightly as she showed off her frustration. "Quartz is already showing off his magic training, and I can't focus right now when I'm unprepared for it! I need you to distract him while I prepare some more." She said in a loud hush, trying to make sure Quartz doesn't hear her.

"Prepare for what?" Quartz innocently stated as he leaned over and crawled on to his pink pet. Star immediately stammered back, not prepared to answer right away.

"Prepared to meet my friend over here. Come on Marco! Now's not the time to play with the kitty!" Star said nervously and purely on instinct, using all the strength she had in her to pull Marco out relatively easy, and shoving him to the side. "I don't care what you do, just make sure that he doesn't come upstairs!" She said almost threateningly before putting on her bright and cheery smile on once more and hugged brother tightly, a little more tightly than Quartz was used to. "You two boys have fun while I check on something." She smiled widely before dashing up the stairs and slamming the door to her room shut. Both guys stared at the sight for few moments, not quite sure what it was that they saw.

"So I see that she does that here to, huh?" Quartz opened his mouth first as he turned to greet the red hooded boy next to him.

"You have no idea." Marco agreed as he held out his hand. Quartz did the same, though he had a strong grip on Marco's making the older lad slightly uncomfortable as he tried to not show any signs of it hurting him. "S-o, so your the brother that Star was so excited to have over." He stated, silently praying that the kid would let go soon. Quartz did, making Marco blow cold air on the now slightly blue palm."

"Yep, Quartz Universe Butterfly! Knight in training and magical little brother from another dimension!" He smiled as he created a small spikey bubble that floated in the air to show off. "I would add friendliest face in space, but I believe that title belongs to someone else."

"Ooh, is that bubble made out of light or.." Marco said with curiosity, despite Quartz's initial protest, which came too late.

"No wait I,.." the prince said in vain, as Marco placed a single finger on it, and it immediately flared in a bright light. And soon, without any time to prepare for it, the two were covered in soot and ash as a small portion of the living room filled with cracks. "I, I'm still working on that. The bubbles I make can be very, very explodey." He said with a slight nervous chuckle.

Marco just wiped the ash from his face as he smiled at the little guy. "Yep, your definitely Star's brother." He laughed ass the little prince joined him.

"So your the safe kid that my parents decided to leave Star with?" Quartz bluntly point out once they stop, making the older boy do a double take.

"What!? They call her me a safe kid too? What is this?! Did someone out their label me the safe kid for the whole universe to see?" Marco complained.

"Oh, I didn't mean to offend, its just that when Mom and Dad left Star on earth they left the school with instructions to have a guide throughout her stay on earth that was, and I quote" he then pulls out a piece of paper and began to read it. "A knowledgeable and trustworthy person/people who has a clean reputation. Particularly one that has no association with anything bad, savage, dangerous, risky, or anything remotely resembling anything young ones consider 'cool'. Furthermore he/she should be by the books, be one to stray away from danger, cautionary.." Quartz began to ramble on, making the older bot both frustrated and whiney as the prince continued the drabble.

"Okay, I get it!" the frustrated Marco shouted, making the prince look at him questionably. "Just for the record, that is not me! I'm a total rebel, I totally embrace danger." He brags on, leaning on the nearest thing around, which just so happen to be the lion, who growls at the sudden feeling of pressure. Marco completely contradicts himself as he flinches back in fear and lets out a girlish scream, leaving the spectating prince chuckling. "I take karate! I can fight an army of monsters. Just ask Star, they constantly attack is all the time!"

"Oooh, really?" The boy said slightly impressed. "Care to show me something?"

Marco face sudden gave out a slightly smug smile. If the boy was anything like Star, all it would take was one well placed move and any image of being a safe kid would be removed from his head. "Okay." He said in the most sly like voice he could muster up, cracking his fingers as he turns to the nearest wall. "See this wall, totally sturdy, nothing, and I mean nothing can break through it." He explains, only for lion to get up and leap through the other side of the wall, most likely bored from everything that had transpired so far. "That was magic, so it doesn't count." He reassured the prince. "With one punch, I can totally make a hole in it." He crouches down, going in his stance, channeling all the little strength and manliness he had required in his short life. And with a mighty "heyeah", he pounced forward and drove his hand right into the wall, making a hole just like he said, generating a small, "wow" from the prince.

"Ahhhh" he started to wince in pain, only now noticing just how strong the wall really was. Quartz stared at him with curiousity, so he tried to make it look as cool as possible. "Ahhhhhaha, yea-eah, th-ats, that's right, I was able to do that, ha, ow." He rather lamely. Quartz offered no response as Marco try to pry his hand from the wall. "Now that the walls taken care of, I can show off my.." He begins, only for his arm to tug back at him. "Alright, all this need is a little elbow grease and..." He tries to convince the prince, and himself, that this was not a problem. He uses his other arm to try and pry it out, but to no avail. "So you want to play dirty, huh," he addressed the wall threateningly as he lifted his other hand. "Well lets see how you like it when you taste your own med.." He follows through with another punch, only for that hand to somehow go in deeper than the other one. "ecine." He frowns, knowing that this was the result he should've expected.

"Uh, do you need.." The little prince began to speak in a chuckling manner, finding this situation rather amusing. He covers his mouth as he fails to contain his enjoyment, something that doesn't really help with the teen's self esteem.

"No! I got this! All need to do is weaken the wall a little more and I'll be free." He irritably said as he raised his right foot and repeatedly began to kick the area below his arms. It looked alike for a moment that the plan was working, as the walls began to crack up a little, elating a small smile on the teen's face. This just so happed to be a celebration to early as just like the top limbs, his right foot was too stuck in the wall. His demeanor shrank as he turned to the prince. "Okay, you can help out now."

"Well, if you proved one thing, its that you should be glad none of Ludo's monsters are walls, or else you two would be doomed." He said sincerely as he began to pull out Marco's leg. "So exactly how did you guys meet? Star often has a tendency to befriend everyone on the first attempt."

"Heh, well it wasn't exactly like that, in a way." Marco chuckles nervously as he remembers that very first day. "Like you said, I was called to be Star's guide around the school, and, let just say I wasn't prepared for anything like Star. She was chipper, jumpy, and constantly spreading laser puppies and flaming rainbows."

"She's still doing that?" Quartz immediately perked up in worry. "Your town hasn't experienced any massive outburst of fire and mayhem, right?"

"Ah, no, at least, none that I heard of." He said a little hesitantly, especially when he see's the huge sigh of relief the prince gives. He made a mental note to ask Star about that later, and possibly start carrying around flame retardant materials at all times. "Anyway, I didn't really connect with the whole magic thing at first, especially when she ended up sucking my entire room into a black hole. But after a brief argument and a monster fight, we connected. She's amazing with that wand, practically anything she wants comes out of it, and its been, quite an adventure being friends with her."

"Yeah, she has that affect on people." Quartz said, stopping what he was doing for a moment. "When you're with her, practically everything you do is something exciting, something new, something, something daring." The smile on his face grows as he begins to reminisce. "She would plan everything, execute everything, somehow always knowing where to find the most crazy and fun places and areas, and she, she always knows how to lighten you up, and she always goes out of her way to do so, no matter what."

Marco looked at this and smiled. He knew exactly what he was talking about, having jut gone through a similar experience. Star would always find a way with to keep a smile on his face, even when it came at her own expense.

"That's, that's why I look up to her." Quartz continued. "She, she always manages to find a way to ensure good things, and she has determination like I've never seen. That's why I choose to take apart in our mom's lessons. I want to always be there for her, by her side, and I feel like I can never match the level of, of.."

"Sweetness? Magic ability? Excitement?" Marco guesses, to which the little prince nodded. Marco just chuckled at the irony. "I believe that this is something you don't need to worry about. I think its time that you two talk to each other. You have a lot to talk about." He suggested.

"Hm, I guess your right." Quartz said as he began to go off. "Ah, thanks for listening, and for the little show that you gave." He said, pointing to his still trapped in the wall limbs. "You seem like a great guy. Maybe not the most intimidating" he says, making Marco shrink a little, "but you look capable of fending off threats, and being a great friend to my sister, so, thank you for being with her." He said as he turned around to face the stairs. Marco smiles once again, feeling a little pride for that complement, though one thing still remained.

"Ah, could you come back here? I'm still stuck."

* * *

10 minuets before...

As that was going down, Star was up in her room, completely panicking. She was not prepared for her little brother's arrival to begin with, and she wasn't anymore ready now. She scattered about in her room, pacing back and forth as she contemplated her next move.

"What am I going to do!? He's here, and he already has more control over his magic! I can't let him pass me up! I, I got to wow him! That's it, all I need to do is one amazing spell and he won't be looking down on me!" She shouted as she immediately pulled out the giant old book from under her bed and immediately began to furiously flip through it page by page. "Come on! There has to be a spell that's awesome enough for him. Got to find, got to find.." She kept on saying as she forcefully went through all the pages, namely her own, well, at least the spells she actually bothered to write down. "Lets see, tiny pink floating high five whale? Cute, but not showy enough. Cheese burger backpack blast? Good, but we already have lunch ready. Bacon pancake buffet bash, okay, why did I make up so many food spells!? And why didn't I use them earlier?!." She shouted with fierce drustration as she slapped the book. "Why wont you give me what I want!?

She slapped the book, making quite a few of the pages turn as it did, suddenly stopping with a sudden thud. Star look down, and she stares at it intently. Her eyes widen at it as she ooed at the sight. "That'll definitely work. Though I'm going to need something to test it on." As if she was given answer, she her so ort of noise from the outside. Curious, Star walked over to her window, and what she was exactly what he had in mind.

Ludo and his minions where just right outside , right under the bricks of her room. Appartly they were trying to climb into her room, again to steal the wand.

"Haha, now this is perfect!" Ludo announced as he commanded all of his monsters to place steady a latter. "We know where she lives, so we'll just attack during the day, when she's too busy to even focus. Are you sure her brother is to visit today?"

"Yes, I specifically saw her freak out over it. She'll be too stressed to focus on us." Buff Frog announced proudly as he helped the rest place the later.

"Yes, oh yes!" Ludo laughed evilly. "This I it, this is finally the day I get the wand! Oh how I can feel its power surging through me!" He howled as he clenched his fist together as if he was actually holding it. "No really, I really can. It quite empowering. I should do this more often. Makes me feel better about myself."

"Ah, sir." The bear like monster spoke up, or rather, down at the little bird leader. "The prince has been trying to help me in the past month, so if we succeed, can we not use the power of the universe to destroy him? I really want to thank him for all the confidence he's helped me gain."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. I'll be sure to send him a fruit basket when I lock him in the dungeon." Ludo said absent mindedly as he scowled at his minion. "Now get back to work! I can't feel myself being empowered with you standing around!" He order, making the monster pout a little as he did as he was told.

"Yo, Dodo!" The mewman princess shouted as she stuck out the top half of her body and waved her wand out like it was a treat above a dog. "You look for this?"

"After her!" The little monster demanded, as all the monsters ran up the later, though the one in the head of the line, Buff Frog, stop at he turned to question his boss.

"Are you sure, Boss? She's telling you to come after her. Isn't that a little fishy, I think she may have.."

"What are you waiting for polly? Can't the little birdie tweet to grab his cracker?" Star mocked, knowingly mocking the little guy.

Ludo fumed as he pointed up at the 14 year old, steam came out of his ears as he tried to shove all of his minions on to the ladder. "After her, after her, after her!"

Star smiled as she just went back into her room, twirling the wand around as he prepared for the inevitable ambush to come. "That's right, come get the wand, suckers."

* * *

"So Star showed up, waved her wand, and made an entire room, just like that?" Quartz questioned as he and Marco walked up the stairs.

"Ah yeah, pretty much. She tried to do the same for my room, but, it lead to less than stellar results." Marco sheepishly as they approached the door of the princess's room. "You should've seen the time she tried to help us win the football game. Boy, were things chaotic there."

"Ha. So, what exactly is foot.." Quartz tried to ask, opening the door as he did, although he held his tongue as he saw the sight before him. What he and the older lad saw was a sight all to familiar to them. At the very edge of the room was a large gapping hole in the wall. Coming into it was a handful of weird and recognizable group of monsters, climbing through as they tried to surrounding the mewman princess. All their efforts were really all in vain as they were pummeled in every conceivable direction, being punched and kicked in several places both known and unknown to monster kind. The 14 year old blonde shouted in joy, enjoying the rush she always felt every time she landed a blow. The smile only grow as she turned around and saw the her little brother along with her best friend.

"Oh hey guys, I guess I didn't schedule the week's monster fight that well. Oh well, no sense in not fighting..."

"Star, watch out!" Quartz screamed, forming his shield as he jumped forward and released it. It shot forward and flew into the air with swift grace, cutting through the wind it stood against. Star bent backward, and saw as the shield flew forward, striking a trollish looking monster in the gut. The little guy wasted no time as he ran flew forward and planted his feet into the troll, knocking him down into the ground as Quartz grabbed the shield from the guys stomach.

"Star, why are there.." Marco speaks up as he jumped into the air and delivers a high kick into a monster's face. He charges forward and sweep kicks another. "..Monster's here? They don't usually try to be this straight forward."

"Ohh Marco, you and your crazy observation skills and misleading thoughts." Star shrugged off with a lame chuckle as she planted an uppercut on another attacker. "Lets not focus on whether or not someone did anything to provoke this attack and focus on bonding like a normal trio of friends." She said as she saw her brother run towards another monster, ramming him into a wall. "See, Quartz is getting it."

Quartz meanwhile was taking this all in one moment at a time. The last thing he wanted today was for another attack on his sister for something that she most likely caused. But that, that he was pushing aside. All thing considered, he was actually enjoying this time, fighting off monsters. Sure, he didn't get the exact same thrill of randomly beating monsters as his sister and father did, but there was moments occasionally were he let any morals and standards set aside. Plus this was the first time in months that he hung out with his sister, so he was going to take any bonding he could get. And as another plus, he could finally show Star something he's been cooking up for a while.

"Hey guys, this is a new move I've jut learned last week." Quartz announced as he closed his eyes and lifted his arms. From the palms of his hands, two bubbles formed as he opened his eyes, and began to twirl a little. He span around three times, quickly, almost as if he didn't do it to begin with. With the final spin, he let go of the bubbles, and let them fly. "I called this one, the ba ba bomb."

"Why would you ever call it that?" She asked with full sincerity, though with that, she soon got an answer. The bubbles bounced of the wall, giving off a giant "Bah!" as it did. They flew in the air with tremendous force as they connected with two monsters the sadly were in the way, giving off the same noise as the connected to the monster heads. The bubbles bounced once more, and they flew into each others path, connecting together. But instead of making the same sound as it always did, this time, upon making contact, it exploded in a bright and piercing light, sending quite a few of the monsters back as they fell through the hole in the wall.

"Wow, that was pretty impressive. And I see little to now damage was done with that." Marco commented as he side-kicked one of the monsters in the chest.

"Yeah, mom made sure to teach me how to contain any of the blasts to only attackers. Pretty neat, right Star? He said, hoping that it at least caught her attention.

Of course Star was paying heed to her brother. She stared intently as she saw the rather impressive display of power the little guy had just shown her. It was a marvelous sight, she could not doubt that, but that, as great as it was, she could not help but gain a sense of worry when she did. She knew she had to act fast, or she'd risked losing the opportunity, and potentially her brother as well.

"Hey, how about I show you something that I've been working on?" Star elatedly said, purposely ignoring her brother as she said it. With a rather stiff and rushed performance, Star twirled around like her brother did, only difference was that she almost fell over when she did. She span the wand also, twirling it along her hand as the star in the middle began to emit a rather dark purple glow. The very air seem to get heavier with every passing second as a sense of dread filled it. Before anyone could even ask what was happening, everyone froze as a small twister like shape began to form in the air. It flew outside, seemingly getting out of the way, only for Star to finally finish with the saying of her spell.

"Mega tornado sweep whirl attack away!" She announced as a dark beam of light shot out of the wand, the power being so great that it forced Star on her back. The small twister that once was suddenly became a giant, almost matching the size of the house as it began to sweep in all the debris from the attack. It started to come in closer, and as expected, it began to sweep in some of the current occupants of the room.

"No, no, no!" Ludo shouted as he began to fight it as he shoved his way out of the Tornadoes wind. He ended up pushing more of his own minions in the tornadoes wrath as he did, doing so without any real care or worry for his actions. He ended up grabbing onto Star's bed and held on for dear life. Marco was holding on to the door as he held on to Star's arm who likewise held on to Quartz's.

"Star, what did you do?!" Marco shouted, barley making his voice heard as the winds sucked out most of the volume of his voice.

"Oh, I just used what I knew from my tornado clean up spell, and added it with a spell amplifier, with a slight touch of impromptu on my half, because lets face it, I was not going to read that entire spell. It took up, like half a page. Who's going to read for that long?" Star said braggingly. "So, are you impressed? Is this great or what?" She smiled, facing her brother, who looked a little concerned about being sucked into a vortex of death, like any sane person would be.

"Ah yeah, this, this is quite powerful, a little much though." Quartz said with his eyes on the side, fully indicating that he wasn't enjoying it as much as star was. "So, when is it going to stop?"

"Hm, I guess since I used it to attack Ludo's monster's, it'll go away once they're all gone. But I don't see any..." Star trails off, as all three kids look on the same sight. Ludo was crawling on the floor, sticking the horns of his helmet into the ground and using it to keep himself in place. Instead of crawling to safety though, his selfish and greedy instincts kicked in, trying to grab the wand, which was now strapped to Star's side. He was about two feet away when he tried to reach for it, making childish and whiny grunting noises as he did. He finger was on the tip of grabbing ahold of it when the trio looked at him, giving him a 'are you serious?' look as he sheepishly chuckles.

"Ah, would you by that I was merely trying to grab on to your hand for safety and hoping that we could all be the best of friends?"

"Nope." Star blatantly says as she stuck her foot out, kicking the helmet away, and thus, sending the weak little bird man into the incoming storm.

"I'll get you for this, I swear on my l, no, on the lives of my minions that you will all pa..." Ludo's rant was lost on everyone as he was sucked into the twister, his voice becoming one with the rushing wind. But as the trio of kids side in relief as the winds died down, they only stared in shock as the tornado stayed, going out further, and somehow becoming even bigger than before.

"Star, why isn't it stopping?! Why is the freaky swirl of destruction not going away?!" Marco shouted as he waved his hand franticly.

"Oh, I'm sure this is nothing to worry about. It probably missed a monster, or something like that." Star said nervously, praying for it to be the case. All that hope died as soon as it sucked up an entire house whole, living nothing their, and the owner of said house, who was in the basement, complexly baffled as to what had just happened.

"Star, did you say that you used a clean up spell for this one?" Quartz asked nervously.

"Ah, yeah. Is that bad?"

"Yess!" The prince said fearfully. "A clean up spell like this is made to stay until everything is gone! You cast it outside, so, its not going away until everything outside is gone!" He said as he waved to the entire outside in general. Both of th teens realized immediately what he was getting at.

"So, the tornado wont go away until the whole town's gone!" Marco stated, with Quartz confirming with a fearful nod. Star got to her kneed as she squeezed her head, giving her hair a messy and frantic look.

"No, no, no." She said as she looked down with sorrow. "This wasn't suppose to happen. I, I, I was trying to make everything better. Ughhhh, this is my birthday all over again."

Quartz looked over to his sister. "What do you mean?"

"This, I, I was trying to show you how great I was at this. I knew you would be better I this, I knew that you, you would show up, being great at this whole, magic thing." She chuckles lamely as she stares straight at her brother. "I wanted to show you that I was good at that this thing. I thought, maybe if I showed you my skills, then you'd be impressed by me. I love our time together, and its the one thing I miss about leaving mewni. I, wanted to give you something to look up to, so that nothing between us would," she stops and wipes a tear from her face. "I wanted us to always be the same, to always be together. I'm sorry that I made a mess of things. I'm sorry that I keep driving us away." She expected Quartz to walk away, but she found herself wrapped in his arms instead.

"Star, you never had to do that." Quartz assured her as he deepened the hug. "Do you know why I try to be good at my powers?" He smiled as Star gave him a confused look. "Because you give me something to strive for. You are always taking me on every adventure, every obstacle, every wild and weird thing you come across. Your always saying that I'm the best part of it, so I'm always trying to live up to that. You always surprise me, and it doesn't take a super huge mega spell like that to do so. Hey, if you just set up a bacon pancake buffet blast, I would've bee cool with it."

"Oh, that's why I know so many food spells." Star ooed in realization as Quartz hugged her even more. Star likewise returned it as she got to her feet. "I guessed I got carried away again."

"Star, when don't you?" Quartz said in good humor as both of them laughed. Star looked around expecting Marco to join in at the touching family moment, though both stopped as they saw that the tornado had come back around and began to suck everything up again. Marco just so happened to be in the wrong spot, as he was hanging from the edge of the whole in the wall, hanging on from a thread.

"Oh yeah, totally forgot about that. So, how are we going to fix this?" Star questions, making Quartz smile widely.

"Okay, I have a plan, but in order for it to work, I need you to fire the craziest, most destructive spell that first comes to your..

"Okay done!" She shouted as she launched her narwhal blast. All that did though was send a batch of narwhals flying through the air. "Okay, that didn't do anything."

"..I need you to launch it at me." Quartz continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "When I say go, you going to launch you spell at my bubble with me in it."

"Are you sure, cause that sounds like it wouldn't do anything."

"It was something I learned from mom."

"Oh, then in that case, lets do it!" She said eagerly as she sees her brother form his bubble. He gives her a small thumbs up as she prepares her spell once more. "Mega Narwhal Blast!" She shouted as both of them smiled enthusiastically. Quartz, as expected, was sent flying into the storm. Quartz, despite the speed he was going at, was getting a little thrill at the tossing and spinning he was going through. Soon he was the eye of the tornado, right in the perfect position to do his thing.

"Butterfly Bomb!

* * *

"So let me get this straight?" Star said as she confronted her brother on the ground on the lawn. Remnants of the tornadoes passing still stayed, that was for sure, but other than the three whole houses that were missing, everything was relatively the same, with no one, surprisingly getting hurt by the entire ordeal. "The butterfly bomb thing you always say was you practicing your powers?"

"Of course. Why else would I say it so often? " He said like it should've been obvious. As soon as that bomb had been unleashed, the tornado immediately dissipated in a flash of pink light, somehow being replaced by a swarm of, well, butterflies. "Mom saw how I was able to control the explosions, so she thought it might help with some of the more, messy magic mishaps."

"Wait, so everytime you said that, you've could've exploded?"

"Yep."

"And you never told me, or even gave me any warning?"

"Yeah, I could've went off at almost anytime, and none of us would've expected it otherwise."

"Do you know what kind of person does that?"

"You."

"That's right!" Star said as she once again scooped up her brother for an embrace. "I knew I rubbed off on you somewhere." Both young kids joined together as they shared another laugh.

"Okay, okay, so that happened." Marco came up to the smiling royals. "So one of you has a misunderstanding, so one goes overboard in trying to make the other happy, only for it to expectantingly go off the rails, and you two end up bonding over trying to fix it. Is that everything?"

"Yep."

"Pretty much."

"Does this happen all the time with you guys?" Marco asks again.

"Yeah, all things considered, this was a pretty average day." Quartz answered.

"Okay, I was just trying to make sure that was clear." Marco says with a small smile on his face, knowing that this was something he was too used to by now. All were pretty content with everything that had happened today, and they probably would've went back inside the house is they hadn't herd a bunch of muffling noises from behind them. All three turned around, and they once again saw the sight of the monsters. They were bruised, beaten, and one or two of them had a few dislocated joints, but all of them were somehow still standing. Ludo was right at the forefront of the group as he stumbled his way towards the kids.

"I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm still, still here, you path, path, pathetic ki, ki.." He stammered as he looked at them in a daze. "I, i'm goin to geh tha wan sum dye, jist yo wat an.." He holds up his eyes as he struggled to reach for his dimensional scissors. "Cme ooown, lets geh movin, will do this when the world stops spinning." He says as he and his group of monsters literally fall into the portal, none of them having the strength to walk any further.

"Bye bearnicorn. Don't forget we have that meeting next week. We need to talk about this latest relapse." Quartz said to the bear like monster, who gave him a dazed smile as the portal closes. Both of the teens stare at him, confused as to what he meant by that. "He's been having some confidence issues, so he comes by every now an again for conciel. I think we're on the verge of a breakthrough." He said with an earnest smile, making the two chuckle as they finally head inside.

"So, your not going to tell mom about this and have me sent to St. Olgas now, are you?" Star asks out of the blue with full curiousity.

"Is that what you were afraid of?" Quartz chuckled as he nudged his sister. "Star, I would never, ever even want you near that place. Besides, I think mom would be impressed if I told her how you came up with your own spell on the fly." A few bricks from Star's room fall from their place. "I'll just leave out the part of it going out of control and nearly destroying the town."

"Aw you. Now go inside. We have a lunch to eat." He said as she gently shoved her brother the house. She herself stayed inside, sighing in huge relief as she leaned against the door.

"So, whad'aya say?" Marco said ever so casually.

"Okay, okay, maybe I was worried for nothing, but everything worked out. I got to relive good times with my brother and were tighter than any peas." Star shouted in joy as she skipped into the house.

"Ah, I don't think you said.., you know what? Forget it, your happy, and that what's important." He relented as he followed her inside, not knowing that from this day forward, all the craziness he had encountered so far, could never prepare him for what lied ahead.

As it should be. Who could ever prepare for those two magical stars?

* * *

Whoooooaaaaaa! Now that was a blast to write. I'm a little burnt out though, so it might be awhile before I get back to this.

Now what should the next chapter be?

Steven's first encounter with Star's school, as well as his first meeting with Connie

or

Star and Steven meeting lion for the first time?


	7. Chapter 7

**SOOOOOO, SOOO very sorry about the 3 month hiatus, but the end of the year really, really sucked for me. My semester break was too short, and it had the worst start to it, and even before that i had to go through some stuff, problems both physical and emotional, that, and trying to make some progress on my other stories, and this had made writing the rest of this chapter a nightmare, even though I had half of it already typed up about two months ago. But I have to say that writing this again was very enjoyable and very great for me. I just hope the break didn't hinder the writing.**

 **So since you all voted for it, we have the next chapter, Steven going to school with Star. Really surprised so many people chose that choice, but oh well. The next chapter will be about Steven and Star meeting Lion for the first time, as well as a certain member of the high commission. The chapter after that will be my first episode adaptation, and if you can guess the timeline of the story by the end of this, then you know what's coming.**

 **I own nothing.**

* * *

Quatz was often use to surprises. He had to be. It was either that, or suffer near heart attacks every time Star made her entrance. Still, no matter how many times he mentally prepared herself, no matter how many times he made sure to keep a straight face, Star always managed to get the drop on him every time.

This was a well learned but often forgotten lesson that Quartz had in the back of his mind as he finished today's mourning training. It was tiring and required him to wake up at 4 o'clock today, but it was worth it if it ment he could slip away with Star for a few hours. He had the rest of the day to himself, so why spend all that free time alone?

Ever since his last visit to Earth, Quartz had made it his goal to see Star on at least every other day. She had a pair of dimensional scissors that he 'didn't know she had', so it was like she never left. Plus, there was so much more on earth, so many sights, so many people to meet, and many more adventures to go on as brother and sister.

This was going through his head as he checked himself in the mirror. Curly hair, check. Clean gem belly button, check. Flexible armor in the very like event that they'll run into something mom wouldn't want them near, check. Sword that their mother gave to him for practice and should only take out for emergencies that'll most likely happen because Star will be in charge of your entire afternoon? Maybe he should leave that here, just so no one will get suspicious. Besides, he was sure that Star's magic was all the weaponry they would need for today.

"Lookin good their Quartz. Lookin good." He said with a small smile as he continued to stare. "Now I guess all their is now is waitininggggggggggggggggggggggggg..." He tired to finished before abruptly shouting the rest of that sentence as he fell though a large gap in the floor that wasn't their before.

* * *

20 seconds before.

"Are you sure that this is the best way to get your brother's attention, Star?" Marco cautiously said as he looked what his house guest was doing. Donning her dimensional scissors, star decided the best thing to start off the morning was to bring her brother over. Of course, that meant she had to bring him back to her place in the most unconventional of ways. Which meant she opened a portal above her to her brothers room and waited for the moment for her brother to fall right through.

"Aw relax. Out of everyone that I've surprised over the years, Quartz should be the most used to it by now. I'm sure that he'll spot the portal and make a grand entrance." She assured her earth born friend. Though any merit she had to her words were soon dashed when said little brother fell through, flat on his face and moaning in slight pain. "See, I totally didn't expect him to do that. What did I tell ya?" She absent mindedly said as Marco rolled his eyes. The little prince peeled his face off the ground, slightly struggling to regain his posture as he leaned on his sister for support.

"Okay, that's a point for you on the surprise chart, again." Quartz chuckled as he pulled out a little note pad and wrote down a slash. The page was split on two side, one for Quartz and another for Star, or to be more specific, 'Magic baby' and 'royal rebel'. "I'll find away to out do you yet, just you wait and see."

"Well as much as I would like to see you guys out do each other, I'm afraid that we're running a bit behind." Marco said as he begun to drag Star by the arm and head out the door. "We need to head to school now."

"Wait, are we talking about the school you keep saying is an endless cycle of boredom with 50 minuets dedicated to a specific type of boredom followed by brief five minute periods of relief?" Quartz ask questionably.

"Yeah, but its pretty to easy to ignore it. All you have to do is look like your interested in what the teacher's doing, then your free to do whatever you want when they're not looking." Star assured as she pulled Quartz up to her level. "Besides, we'll be having so much fun that you wont even notice."

"Whoa, whoa, whaat?" Marco stopped. "We can't just bring your brother to school with us."

"Why not?" Star said with a hint of sterness in her voice. She stared at Marco like he had just said something hypocritical. "All the kids in town go to the school. What's one more kid going to matter?"

"Because he doesn't go to our school, Star. He's not enrolled in it like you and me and everyone else. Besides," he takes Star to the side and makes sure that Quartz is out of hearing range. "He's like you."

"Duh, of course he's like me. How else could be so awesome?" Star bragged.

"What I meant is that he's like you when you first came to Earth. He's not going to understand a lot about life on earth. Or do I have to mention the football incident again?" Marco dryly recalled.

"Oh please, you should've worded you explanation better. And we one that game, and I haven't done anything like that since then."

"What about Brittney's party?"

"Oh like that party wasn't going downhill anyways. I'm an older and more mature Butterfly now. Besides, all the craziness fun I do is mostly because I have this." She points to her wand. "And last time I've checked, Quartz doesn't have one."

"I'm still not sure. I, mean, we wouldn't want to risk anything...

"Please, please Marco? Quartz spent all this time training just so he could spend time with his lovable and awesome sister." She makes her point by holding Quartz right in front of him, his eyes bulging out and screamed of youth and innocence. "Don't you deny this face's simple request. Don't." She finishes off with a similar expression on her on face.

Marco was strong. He could punch monster's unconscious, he endured the occasional blast of magic from Star's wand. He was able to avoid being eaten by a serpent monster thing for crying out loud! He was the tough guy that took karate! He was a bad boy. He didn't have a shred of guilt about disappointing his best friend. He was doing it for the good of everyone, her included. He didn't fall for the puppy eye's, he had enough of the real thing here. He was absolutely not going to fall into this trap, he was a warrior, and a warrior never faltered in face...

* * *

"So their are no invisible horses or dragons pulling this hunk of metal?" Quartz innocently asked as he sat in his sister's lap. Both smiling siblings sat as the bus pushed forward on to the school, as Marco sat behind them with a rather disappointed look. Right next to him was a rather chubby fellow known as Ferguson, who also happened to be one of Marco's friends.

"No, no silly." Star assured as she patted him on the head. "As silly and implausible as it sounds, that is not the case. The 'bus' as they call it is really powered by tiny ostriches that live in the hood. That's why all cars are able to making that honking sound."

"Wow, earth stuff sounds so amazing! And I thought Mom said there was no magic here."

"I know, right? Wait until you see the magic switch that controls the light."

As Star shared her 'knowledge' of Earth, Ferguson leaned over to his disgruntled friend.

"What's wrong with you? And why is that kid sitting down with Star?"

All Marco could do is sigh as the bus came to a stop.

"I lost a battle of will." He idly spoke as he slowly walked out of the bus with his head slightly dropping down. Once everyone was off the vehicle, he walked aside his royal friend, who now had her little brother clinging to her back like a Kola. As silly as it might've been, judging by all the stares that she was receiving , there was no denying that it was a cute sight to see. Marco just rolls his eyes as they entered the hallways of the building.

Quartz's eyes widen in awe. This slightly reminded him of the Balls and Galas that would be held in the kingdom from time to time, except everyone here seemed to be a little more chilled and relaxed, while everyone that would attend the parties in Mewni would be, in Star's words, "Stiffed necked, snooty, self absorbed jerks who always had something up their.."(Quartz made sure to cover his ears at that last part whenever she said that sentence). Rows and rows of teens filled the hall, as well as a few adults, and some sort of long, metal chamber that seemed to make up most of the walls.

"Okay guys, I know that you two need to catch up on some quality time, but you should probably keep things a little quiet. Things can be a little hectic here, but if you just address everything in a calm and sensible fashion.." Marco began to advise, not wanting to repeat what happened on Star's first day here. Of course, when he actually looks up at them, he sees that they weren't even listening.

"Now if you really pay attention and ignore everything you don't like, then you'll find that school is really no different from going into town in Mewni." Star explained with a big smile.

"You mean that crowds of people just start randomly coming up to you in order to praise and say hi to you?" He questioned. His question is immediately answered as a crowd of teenagers began to do so without warning. A few kids offered a few backed goods, which she never actually got because they either ended up on the ground or eaten. Some cheered wildly and randomly as they shouted "Star Butterfly rules!" over and over again. Some seemed to just stand still and sweat heavily when she passed by. "Huh, what do you know?" Quartz said in slight astonishment.

Marco, slightly frustrated, just bangs his head on a nearby locker. But if he were paying attention, he would've saw that the locker was wide open. Already in full motion, Marco's head comes into the little space at full force, making his head stuck. "I should've just said to skip class. Would've been a lot less painful."

"See, if you stick with me than I can show you all the highs and lows of high school." The trio stop sudden as Star leans against on of the lockers. "This here, is the sacred sanctum of metal fortitude that all kids are given. Each one of them processes and protects the most secret and important items in every kids' life. Like for instance" Star begins to spin the dial. "Marco's locker is full of pictures of embarrassing karate poses and his secret crush Jackie Lynn Thomas."

"What!?" Marco said franticly as he rushes to slam the door shut. As he huffs and puffs he looks around to make sure no else had seen the contents of his locker. Once he knows the cost is safe he stares at stare with a confused look. "That stuff is need to know only! My personal business! And how the heck do you know my combination?"

"Oh, I swiped your diary for a second last week. You left it laying around. How was I suppose to know you didn't want me to know it?"

"Okay, first of all its not a diary, its a personal log book that I write my thoughts and personal feelings in." Marco justified as he closes his eyes and crosses his arms. "And second of all, you can't just..." He opens his eyes once again, only to see that his friend and her accompanying brother had left his sight. Though it was only a quick turn around to see that they had approached the nearby water fountain, with Star for some reason sticking her hand out cautiously as she had Quartz stand behind her.

"Careful bro. Right their is the magical metal fountain of the halls. In it is a life sustaining flow of liquid that everyone needs to have at least one in their life. But be warned. Those that are not worthy, will feel its terrible wrath." Star warned.

"So how many are worthy?"

"Not many I'm afraid. In fact, I don't anyone in the school is." She as a student came up to the fountain. He leaned into it and pressed a nob on the side of the metal box. Water began to sprout out of it, but the unfortunate soul never got the chance to drink some as Quartz immediately decided to take action. He was truly convinced of Star's little story, so right as the water fountain began to do its job, he immediately jumped forward and threw his shield at the metal container.

"Watch out!" He cried as he got the teen's attention. The shield was immediately lodged into the side of the fountain as the teen yelp in shock and promptly ran away. Following that was a series of rumbling noises, causes all three of the currently near kids to slowly back away. The sprout of the fountain begins to shake and shake, and for a moment, it stops, right before it wants again shakes even more violently. And before Marco decides to take the chance and run away, the sprout shoots up in the air, causing water to sprinkle up in the air.

An elated Star picks up Quartz with a proud look on her face. "You did it! Your worthy! That's my little bro for ya!" She cheered as both siblings began to prance around in the little mess that they made.

Of course, the red hooded teen right next to them did not share the same sentiment. "Ah, Star, can I talk to you for a second?" He asked, though it sounded more like a demand as he grabbed Star be the arm and took her off to the side once more. "What are you doing? I thought you wanted your brother to learn about earth."

"Yeah, what do you think I've been doing? Everything I've showed him so far has been my personal experience. Everything he has done is everything I would've done." Star justified.

"Yeah, and that's the problem! You hardly know more about it than he does. I've actually lived here for 14 years. I think you should sit back before you tell him the lunch food is cursed by a demon or something."

"Hey, I only made that assumption once. And the lunch lady was more than happy to forgive me for that outburst."

"That's not the point. Things are already crazy enough with all the magic blasts and monster attacks. We don't need another.." Marco stopped mid sentence, though that didn't stop Star from prying.

"Another what?" She asked with bits of anger around her face. Marco tries to ignore it, knowing for well that she would not take what he was about to say well. "Another what exactly?!" She demanded once again, this time shoving Marco a little.

"Another you! Alright. Yeah, its fun, but, even you got to admit, it can get dangerous, especially when you don't consider how others are affected. Sometimes, its like you don't consider others at all."

Star stood silent. Marco and her, they were different. They would see the world in different ways. She knew that he wouldn't go along with everything that she did. But this argument, this, this was striking out very familiar memories. Memories, both old and recent, memories that she's tried really hard to forget.

' _its always about you! you made it all about you, like you always do!"_ As that ran through her heard, flashes and flashes of fire and crumbling building ran through head. All of them crumbled, destroyed forever, all because of her actions. It was an awful feeling, one that she has been dealing with for awhile. She wasn't sure exactly what she going to do about it. Though at the moment, she set aside the lingering sadness and guilt deep inside and focused on the uprising anger currently bottling up.

"Look. I know my brother." She said with a stern but calm voice. She slowly advanced her way towards Marco in a threatening matter. Marco's frustration disappears as it suddenly becomes a look of worry. "You don't know him. I know what he can handle, and what he wants to do. You've may have the experience living here, but I have the experience of being his sister, I think I out rank you here." Star's expression starts to get more serious and angry as Marco begins to sink down a little more. "He is good, he's a great person, someone way better than me. Don't you ever say otherwise."

Marco was speechless. Never, never had he seen Star get defensive over something, or in this case, someone. He only wished that he'd never said that in the first place. While it didn't erase his side of the argument or his concerns, Marco knew that there probably was a better way for him to go about this.

"Star, I, I.." Marco started, though Star immediately shut him out.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to put you in danger. I'm just going to take my brother, and we are going to have the best.." Star stormed off as she turned away. She needed to forget about what had just happened. Today, all her focus would go to Quartz. She goes to the broken fountain where she last left him, and was prepared to take him..

"Uh, where did he go?"

* * *

1 minute before.

Quartz was really enjoying himself. While still initially confused by a few things in this new world and how it worked, he was having a great time. He definitely was staring to see why Star was having such a great time here. He had never seen her more lively anywhere else.

Of course, as he enjoyed his time running around the busted water fountain, something big and green comes around the corner, which of course catches the little prince's eye. Not noticing that Star and Marco had slipped away for a bit, he lets his curiosity take control as he follows it. "I thought Mom said this was suppose to be one of those monster-less dimensions?" He thought as he continued to follow. He finally catches up to it as the creature stop, and he was able to get a better view of it. It was a large green creature with wild red hair that seemed to stand up in a strange and curvy way. She had a purple shirt that was torn at the sleeves and orange spotted pants with black heels. She also had some sort of gemstone on her belly not too dissimilar to the one on his.

Quartz walked up to the monster curiously and spoke to her. "Are you really a troll?"

The teacher huffed as she barely notices to kid talking to her. "Kid, I've been called a troll for all of my years as a teacher. The only difference know is that all the insults said by the students are now more statements of fact." She said in a scratchy and old tone. "Seriously, its like these kids get smaller every year."

"So, you've haven't been one all the time?" Quartz rationalized as a more clear picture began to form in his mind. "Star Butterfly wouldn't have happen to be one of your student's now?"

"Of course she is. She's the reason why I'm big, green and hairy in the first place." She scoffed as she remember the day it happened, the horror, the tears, and the heartbreak that happened that day. "But its not like I can do anything about it now. I'm a school teacher. Being treated unfairly is kind of the deal." She sighed, knowing that their wasn't really anything that she could do about it.

Quartz of course took pity on this woman, creature, monster, teacher, troll thing. Reaching into his pocket, he grabs onto a slip of paper and hands it to Miss Skullnick , who takes it and inspects it curiously.

"Its a day pass for a spa. I won it in a bet from my friend Pony Head, though I don't know why I wouldn't want this to begin with. They give the special treatment to any trolls that come in on a Wednesday. Just tell Star about it and she'll be able to take you." Quartz explained.

Miss Skullnick, who knew all to well about what to expect from anything that involved Star Butterfly, was justifiably cautious of the offer. "This place wont boil my skin alive or anything, right?"

Quartz just laughed. "Of course they will, but that's only for the monsters of the underworld, and they're sort of into that kind of thing. They won't hurt you unless you specificly ask 'em to.

Miss Skullnick was still left a little confused. Acts of kindness were a rare thing, especially for a teacher. So receiving something out of genuine care was, very different for her to say the least. "Ah, thank you, uh kid."

"Your welcome." He smiled as he walked off. He was feeling quite good about what he did. He couldn't wait to go back to Star and tell her all about it and...

"Oh wait." Quartz finally realized. "Where was Star again?" He asked himself. He looked all over. All the halls and doors looked the same to him. It was beginning to remind him of the time he and Star got lost in the castle halls. The only difference then was that back then, they were both going in circles, and he had Star with him. His heart beat started to get a little higher as his breathing got a little faster.

"Okay, okay." Quartz said as he attempted to calm himself. "You can do this. Star walks randomly everywhere all the time. So if I just do the same..." he said as he closes his eyes and begins to spin around as he walks. "..I'll increase my chances of running into her."

Following through on his faulty logic, her twirled and twirled around, bumping into lockers and trashcans. He almost ran through a few kids as they all tried to get out of his path. Nothing was going to stop him as he continue his quest to find

SMACK

* * *

Stars heart was practically about to give out. If it was on the heart monitor, then the line would've busted out of the monitor and reached out into the atmosphere. She began to race back and force as she balsted open every single locker with her wand. "Super locker opener!" She screamed as she checked every locker she busted open. All this really accomplished was a trailed of charred and broken lockers as students fled the scene.

"Quartz, Quartz!" She yelled repeatedly over and over. The worry on her eyes started to get more and more prevalent. Every corner, every turn, she checked from topped to bottom, not caring about how many people were in her way, or how much damage she was causing everywhere.

Marco was wise enough to stay a few feet away from her. He was already feeling bad about the fight, and the last thing he wanted to was make her more upset. Though as he tried to make his way towards math class, he was beginning to think that a little intervention was probably what she needed a the moment.

Though Star didn't look like anything would stop her, even as the bell rang and they were all called in for class. Several kids moaned as they filed into the room, with the teach Miss Skullnick right at the door. "Alright, I know that we all want to be someone else, me especially since I got this sweet deal on a spa, so lets get this over with so we'll all feel better." The trollish teacher said as she stuck out the piece of paper as she waved her hand.

Star, somehow in her frantic state of worry, was able to spot the day pass as she immediately ran up to her teacher. "This belonged to my brother! What have you done with him!?" She interrogated as she get a little too close for her teacher's comfort. He hair started to stick out in crazy directions as she pointed her wand at Skullnick's head. "Have you finally given in to your monstrous nature and stuffed him in a dungeon for latter consumption!?"

"Ah, no. I'll have you know that some little kid came by and promised me that you'll take me here. So you best take your seat before I forget the only good thing that's happened to me this year." Skullnick said, though her words kind of fall flat as Star's wand begins to glow."

"WHERE. DID. HE. GO!" Star steamed out as Miss Skullnick's eyes a little more in shock. She simply points in another direction. Star immediately runs in said direction, and after the teacher takes in a moment to breathe, more students continue to enter the classroom as if nothing happened.

Of course, Marco didn't want to let this slide. "Star! Wait! I can.." Marco tried to catch up, though before he could get a step further, Skullnick grabbed him by the hood and dragged him into the classroom with her tremendous strength.

"Oh no you don't! I'm not going to file two detention reports today. So sit down, or it goes down on your permanent record." She threatened. Marco, reluctantly, obliges as he sits at his desk, and could only hope that neither of the siblings were doing anything that they would regret.

* * *

Quartz found himself suddenly laying on the ground. In hindsight, he'd probably should've thought out that plan a little more. He picked himself up with little trouble, though with a slight pain in his head. He turns around to see exactly what it was that he ran into.

It was another teenager about Star's age. She had short raven like hair that was mostly covered by a green cap on her head. She wore a green shirt and yellow skirt along with a blue-ish green jacket, and on her side there was a big brown big that was full of something. She was rubbing the back of her head in slight irritation as the two finally start to acknowledge one another.

"Oh, so sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention." The boy apologized right away.

"Eh, its alright. I've token harder hits before." The girl replied with a slight smirk in her voice. "Just be glad i didn't spill the what's in this bag." She ambiguously stated.

"Oooooh, what's in it?" Quartz said in curiosity as he tried to close in on the bag, only for the girl to hold it up in the air.

"Neope, only someone with a badness level of ten can even comprehend what in this bag." She bragged on with a casual tone. "I'm pretty sure someone like you couldn't possibly handle it."

"Yes I can!" Quartz enthusiastically said. "I handle badness all the time! I'm constantly running towards monsters and dodging magic! I live with danger practically every second!"

The girl merely chuckled at his excitement. "Oh really? Then prove it." She takes the kid by the hand and drags him to a nearby door. "In hear is a party, but unfortunately not that many people are having fun." Both look around and see that she was right. Brittney, the most popular girl in there grade, was prancing around the room, apparently trying to have a make up party due to an 'unfortunate outcome' during her last attempt. This time, she made sure to keep the invites even more exclusive to decrease the chance of Star Butterfly coming in to ruin it, much to the disappointment of everyone. "Lighten up the part a little, and maybe a let you peek inside the bag." She said, bringing delight to the little prince's face. Making his way into the room, his small stature made him practically invisible to the taller students as he made his way towards the middle of the room.

False cheers of happiness and sentiment waved through the room as the spoiled girl announced on her microphone. "Finally, the moment has arrvived to celebrate my party! Again! As we all known, my party was ruined when that foreign girl decided to show me up and bring along those goblins or whatever from that weird country of hers, but I have made sure that this time, nothing weird or foreign is here." Silence came over the room. "Cheer or you wont get any cake!" The students shouted as loudly as they could, though that didn't take away their looks of depression.

Of course, Quartz was able to notice everyone's down tone. "Yeesh, It's worse than the year at the silver bell ball when Star dumped Tom. No wonder why she wanted me to come." He looks at his hands as a pink glow began to emit from them. "Okay Quartz, increase the flash, decrease the substance."

"And know you all get the honor of seeing me, the most popular and most loved student here open all my presents that you got for me." She smugly cheered as she walked towards the table filled to the brim with boxes of presents. "Lets see..." She purposely began to slowly choose her gifts, intending to drag this out as much as possible, when suddenly, a small but bright flashes of light exploded in front of everyone. Confused, the students began to search for the source, and all eyes in the room became focused on the nine year old, who had a big, bright smile that touched almost everyone in the room. Getting all of their attention, Quartz summoned two more bubbles, and through them into the walls of the room, making them bounce everyone at blazing speeds. Students began to duck as they tried to avoid them while Brittney screamed in horror as one of her presents was demolished by the bouncing bubbles. Timing them almost perfectly, Quartz summoned his bright and glowing shield, and through it in the air just the two bubbles were about to collide with each other, making the shield appear right down the middle. This not only sent out a bright showing of colors, but a gigantic wave or sound that knocked nearly everybody out of their seats, not that people really seemed to mind as cheers of applause were sent out everywhere.

"Way to go bubble boy!" Someone from the audience chanted out loud, causing everyone to chant it over and over. The prince merely blushed as he prepared another bubble to be tossed, but before he could do anything, Brittney walked over to him with a irritated and steamed look on her face. She didn't give Quartz a chance to greet or explain himself as she grabbed the bubble he was holding and through it over her head, unknowingly throwing it on top of her cake.

"I specifically made sure that no one outside of who I invited knew about this party!" She angrily said. "I made sure no weirdos could step into this place. I blackmailed students, I've bribed teachers, and I had to beg my parents to hook this up!"

"I'm, I'm sorry." Quartz apologized with a shakey voice, noticing the bubble that landed on the cake was starting to glow brighter and brighter. "But I really think that.."

"I will not be upstaged by another weirdo! It was enough that the blonde airhead crashed my first party with her puppy light stick, but I draw the line at little brats who clearly need to taught a thing or two.."

"Look! I'm sorry for busting in on your party, and for whatever my sister's done, but my bubbles are very tricky, and I really think that.." Quartz tried to warn once more.

"Of course your related!" She continued on without letting him finish. "Who else could've messed things up for me than a relative of that foreign weirdo! I will let any of you make a mockery of what's suppose to be my...!" She tried to contine, only to finally notice the brightness coming from behind her. Quartz seized his opportunity as he started to run out the door.

"Everybody duck for cover!" He shouted as he made his way out the door. Everyone else became to panicked to run out as they embraced themselves, except for Brittney, who could only stare in disbelief at the turn of events.

"Why me?"

* * *

It wasn't like Star hadn't experienced explosions before, or that there was an explosion at the school, but what made it very weird was that she was not the cause of the explosion. Which could only mean that Quartz was the source of it, which by itself was weirder than the previous two things combined.

She certainly hadn't expected to see a room full of exploded cake, no matter how many times she's told herself that she would make one. And she definitely didn't expect to see a bunch of the students to be greeting her, not just to tell her how awesome she was, but also to tell her of one fact that she's known all of her life.

"Your brother's the best!" Several of them proclaimed. "I want one just like him!" The girl known as Starfan13 shouted as she hugged Star. "Hooray for bubble boy!" Even more shouted.

Star, despite the worry that she was expericing at the moment, could help but smile at everyone's claims. She knew that Quartz would get along with everyone here, she knew that everyone would love him, because she knew just how great of a person he really was. She just really wished she was here with him to tell that to people, rather than have people tell it to her.

"You, YOU, YOU!" Brittney, in her cake covered glory, got Star's attention and tried to express her frustration. "You, Your brother, is the most, single, greatest.."

"Greatest thing in existence? The best part of your life? Most lovable thing in the universe? Yeah, yeah, I know that! Now can you tell me what I don't know, like where he is?" Star interrupted rudely.

Brittney couldn't take it anymore as she simply shut her mouth, and walked away, screaming on the inside as she began to swing her arms around, hitting nothing but the air. Star could only sigh in defeat as she made her way to the door, only to be stopped by her classmate Janna.

"Hey, what's with this whole brother thing? How come you've only bring him here now?" She asked in her same old casual like tone, still carrying the same bag that she had earlier, but somehow became a little bigger since then.

"Its, its just something that hasn't come up." Star simply stated. "I actually didn't think I'd ever get to be here with him, but now he's gone, and I need to find him." She expressed with all the worry that she could show.

"Relax, he just went down the hall down there." Janna says with utmost chillness. "Have to say, he's a pretty cool dude for a little brother. He provided me with enough distraction to swipe away all the presents." She opens up the bag, and sure enough, it was filled with several boxes covered in decorative paper and bows. "I'm going try to see if any of this stuff is usable for a bonfire ritual later, but before I do that.." She reaches into the depths of the bag, pulling out a skull. "I'd promised him I'd let him look in the bag, so tell him that its my way of saying thanks."

Star stares at her with a blank expression. "Where did you get a skull?"

"Grave robbing isn't as fun as it sounds. Not many people take anything good with them when they die." She explained, waking away without another word.

* * *

Quartz really didn't expect the praise he got when the teens began to congratulate him. He half expected at least one person to reprimand or scold him for causing an explosion, but all the students, even the one teacher that happened to be in the room with him, cheered him as he continued to look for his sister. Heck, a few times some of the students felt the need to toss him in the air as they did, making him summon his bubble purely on instinct, which people took as a sign to start tossing him around like a beach ball. It was fun for a while, at least until the vertigo started to settle in. He merely began to roll around the school all the more randomly as he focused really hard not to throw up.

"I really should've thought this idea out more." He sighed as he tried to lay down on the curved surface of his bubble. He was starting to see why Star got excited about bringing him here. Practically everyone had the same love of magic and explosions as she did. Pretty much everyone was friendly and willing to greet him. "Too bad they're just as tiring." He murmured. A nap was really starting to sound good. Between training with Mom, Dad taking him out on his 'lectures', and visiting Star, he's hardly had the chance to really have some down time to himself. Not that he wasn't greatful for the time he's spends with his family, but it was also good to just be on his own and rest.

At least that's what he wanted to do as a constant tapping sound began to enter his train of thought. The taps were very small, but very noticeable. The little Mewman prince opened his eyes to see what it was that was causing it.

It was a girl around his age, maybe a year or two older as seen by the slight height difference between them. She had dark skin and long, bushy black hair. She wore a sorta blue dress with reddish pink boot/shoe things, and on her face were red glasses with wide circular lenses. She stared up at the bubble, not noticing the partially asleep boy as she lightly tapped it with curiosity.

"Hey." Quartz said once he finally was finally able to open his mouth without yawing. The girl finally stops once she acknowledges who was in the bubble. "Great day to be in a bubble, huh?"

"Oh, oh, oh, so, so sorry, so very sorry!" She frantically said as see tried to keep her nervousness from showing. "I, I didn't see you in there, and, so sorry, I was just curious about it, and I thought that.."

"Its, its okay!" Quartz said a little loudly so that his voice could be heard above hers. He succeeds in getting her attention as he continues. "A lot of people here today seem to be interested in my bubble making today. I never thought that it would get me this much attention."

"Well, it is a large, pink bubble and with the.." The girls smiles widely as she explains, only to stop in a realization. "What, this bubble wouldn't happen to be magic now, would it?" She smiles in hope.

"Of course it is!" He says excitedly. He demonstrates further by popping the bubble around him encloses his hands on each other, forming a smaller, brighter bubble. "Its only a small part of what I can do."

"Whoa." Her eyes widen in awe. "I've never seen magic so up close before." She slowly leans her hand in to touch it, only for Quartz to hold it out of her reach.

"Yeah, you probably shouldn't try to touch it. I'm still working on making them not explode." He throws it overhead, showing a small explosion commencing right behind him. The girl's grin only gets bigger as the excitement begins to leak out of her face.

"You, you can do that!? How, how can you do this!? What, where, where does it come from?! Can everyone do magic!? Can I do it?!" Quartz flinches back a little, not expecting that little outburst from what he expected to be a shy girl. Connie, realizing what she was doing, does her best to calm down. "Sorry, but, but I keep hearing stories and rumors coming about magic coming from the older kid classrooms, and I was just curious about it so I used my class's free time today to try and check it out, and when I saw the bubble, I became excited at finally seeing it and..."

"Its not that normal for you?" Quartz threw out their, making the taller girl nod in response. "Its actually pretty normal for me." He reaches out his hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name. I'm Quartz. Quartz Butterfly." He said in small glee.

The girl, after shaking off the excitement, likewise does the same. "Connie. Connie Mahaswarren." She said as she blushes, feeling a little silly saying her whole name, though another shock of realization comes to her mind once more. "Are, you, are you by any chance related to Star Butterfly?!" She shouts in excitement. Quartz only nods in response. "Star Butterfly? The one that everyone says has a magic wand?! An actual, legitimate, magic wand?!"

"Yep!" He affirms. "I'm her brother." Quartz suddenly found himself being grabbed by the shoulders as the excitement on Connie's face began to resurface.

"Tell. Me. Everything." She said with as much seriousness as she could muster. "Is the wand real!? Does she really make anything she want out of thin air!? Is she really from another Dimension!? Is she really a princess?! Does that make you a prince?! Am I talking to royalty right now!?"

Quartz was prepared to answer all that, though the shouts of 'bubble boy' began to surface, making him silence himself for a moment before speaking. "Connie, I would be more than happy to tell you everything, but, is there a more quiet place that we can speak?" Connie smile remained as she motioned the boy to follow, to which he happily did.

It wasn't a long walk, mostly because they weren't wandering around randomly as Quartz had been doing all day before hand. They eventually walked into a large room, bigger than most of the rooms in the school, and in it was a hall full of books, shelves full of books, tables full of books. The prince's eyes widen, not having seen so many books in one place before.

"This is the high school library. Most kids in my class don't really come here, but this is where the truly great stuff is." She gleamed as she took the Mewman prince to a far corner. "I spend a lot of time here, because when you don't have any friends, you just read books. And talk to yourself. A lot. For hours." She said with a blank expression, once again, feeling silly for admitting that pathetic truth.

"I've never really had the chance to ever visit a library before. Or even read." Connie looked at him like he was crazy. "Life in the castle is crazy. A lot of my time is spent around my family. Either being with my sister, Mom, or Dad. Mom is training me in my powers, Dad is training me how to fight monsters, and Star just enjoys fighting stuff in general. Its fun, but it can be a little, fast paced for me."

"That stuff sounds amazing!" Connie shouted a little too loudly, prompting a loud 'sssssh" from one of the faculty. "You get to use magic, and live in a castle, and, and go on adventures! I would gladly trade everything I have for that!" Once again, another 'ssssh' was brought up. "The only exciting thing in my life is tennis practice."

"I have no idea what tennis is, but I really want to try it." Quartz stated. "And believe me, I love how my life is, but sometimes, i want to do my own thing. To have something that's, that's just mine." A little frown shows on his face. It was small, but definitely noticed by Connie.

Attempting to turn things around, she snapped her fingers and grabbed one of her books that she had stored to the side. She picks one and hands it to the little prince. "Then it sounds like you need a good book. Its called Dogcopter. In a world where Humans are overthrown by machines, the most human of them all, is a dog! Copter, that is."

The little prince's eyes somehow change form in the shape of stars. "That sound awesome!" Another shush was brought up, before the teacher shushing just gives up halfway and leaves the library all together. "It slightly reminds me of the time the Rose Guard helped negotiate peace between the Mutt revengers and the dominating feline race."

"See, that is what I mean." Connie's face begins to light up in practically the same way. "Your from another Dimension! An entire new world, with different histories, different creatures, different people, and different stories to tell!" She unknowingly leans in closer to him. "Please, tell me more!"

Smiling, he nods. "Okay, but first you got to learn about Mewni's most amazing Hero, The Rose Guard. A fierce sword fighting heroine that has trampled armies for centuries.."

* * *

Around the time lunch had ended, Star was still searching for her brother, but now she did it with a slight mope on her face and a sluggishness in her step. Occasionally she would ask the fellow students if he was around, though all they could say to her was how amazing he was, something that she's known all her life. She didn't need to hear how great he was, what she needed to hear was how safe he was right now.

Sadly, that's not what she was getting as she began slip into a slump. Was this just a cycle that she was doomed to repeat over and over? Was she just meant to screw up when it came to taking care of her brother? She had let him down thus so far, so it appeared to be that way.

She was so caught up in her own self-disappointment that she hardly notice the person tugging on her shirt. "Star." The familiar voice stated, and with when quick turn around, Star came face to face with her roomie and her bestie, who had a look of concern and worry on his face. "Are, are you feeling alright?"

"Not now, Marco." Star sad, barely having the motivation to even look him in the air. "I'm trying to find my brother. He should be around here somewhere."

"Yeah, I heard. A lot of the students have been chanting the name 'bubble boy' a lot, and, well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out who that is." Marco said a little sheepishly as Star gave out a depressed sigh. "I, look, I'm sorry for saying what I said, but its not what I meant to say, I just said it and I figured that it was dumb to say, but you'd know what I'd meant to say." He speaks, carefully trying to figure out the right words to use. "Do you know what I'm saying?"

"Sorta, but not really." She says honestly. "Its not your fault. Its just, what you said to me earlier, it reminded me of, of something I've really wanted to forget about." She leans against the rows of lockers as she pinches her nose in frustration. "I'm always going to be looking out for him, and I'm always going to be responsible for him, but every time I try, I just get reminded of how much I've failed him."

"Okay, okay, so you're bummed at the moment, and your feeling pressure from it." Marco tried to comfort. "But you haven't failed him. You just lost track of him in all the excitement, that's all. I don't think anyone can be faulted for that." A small smile forms on his face. "And did you see how excited he was just to be here with you? You both enjoyed each other's company soo much that you got a little carried away. I'm pretty sure that mean your doing your job as a sister right."

Star immediately responded with a hug, to which the surprised Marco returned with glee. "Thanks. I really needed that." She lets go, slightly dropping the smile. "I just wish I didn't lose him so quickly."

"Hey, we'll find him. Together. I mean, its just the school, there's no way that he couldn't have gotten that far.." He was suddenly pushed to the ground by Star. "What are you..." He tried to get Start to explain, though upon looking up, he was able to see why. Above them, indented in one of the lockers, was a small, pink shield that slowly began to fade away into sparkly.

"If there's a shield, than that must mean.." Star concurred, and sure enough, she was able to see a door swinging wide open as one of the nearby faculty members fell to the ground, trying to regain his composure. Star wasted no time and pushed the faculty member to the ground once more as she barged through the door. Sure enough, at the end of the room, there was the sight of her little brother, standing beside an unfamiliar girl as the two little kids continued to converse with one another.

"..of course, The Rose Guard is never without a quick wit and cunning, as she sliced her way through the hoards of bat goblins to finally liberate the sun seekers after over a decade in their bondage!" He wrapped up his story, as Connie was mesmerized by the tale of the great heroine. She didn't, however, have the time to express her joy as the boy was engulfed by the sudden hug of his sister.

"QUARTZ, YOU'RE OKAY!" She screamed. "I love you! I hate you! I was worried! You are in soo much trouble! I am never letting you go!" She switched on back and fourth between happy and angry, but ultimately, happy won out as she practically straggled her brother by holding him so close.

"Star.." The brotherly prince struggled to get out.

"No, you're going to tell me where you've been! I've been searching forever!" The princess demanded.

"I, I just got lost at the fountain. I saw a troll and i guess I got carried away from there." He shrugged. "I tried looking for you, but I ran into my new friend here and I got caught up.."

"Wait a minute." She finally put her attention on the little girl, who merely waved shyly at the blonde. "Who are you exactly?" She said with suspicion.

"Oh, I, I, I'm Connie." She stuttered. "And, and you're Star Butterfly! Are you, are you really a magic girl?!" She said with excitement, only to clear her throat as she tried to talk a little more seriously. "I'm, I'm sorry Star, can I call you Star? I mean, I know its your name but I, we don't know each other, but I know of you.." She stops herself. "Sorry, for trailing on. I didn't know you were looking for him, but I'd asked him to tell me some stuff about Mewni, and we really, really got into it." She blushed with nervousness.

"Ahh, I see what's going on here." She chuckled a little evilly as she placed her brother down again. "Quartz, you sly puppy, If you wanted to find a girlfriend so much, I would've been more than happy to help!"

"WHAT!?" Both kids yelled louder than they had earlier, both now blushing furiously, their faced crimson with embarssessment. "We're not, I'm mean, its not, we just.." both stammered at the same time, only adding more depth to Star's assumption, and the embarrassment to the two kids.

"I see, I see. You two need some time to sort out your feelings." She winks at Quartz as she backs away slowly. "I'll be waiting outside. I'll be sure to make sure no one messes with your funky flow, bro." She smiles as she finally goes away.

Both kids finally allow themselves to breathe easier and get a small chuckle out. "Funky flow?"

"Heh, just, just something I use to say to myself." He smiles nervously. "I guess that means I should go back with my sister now." He turns to walk away. "We, we can still do this, right? Just, just talk about Mewni stuff and all that."

"Of course! I mean, we don't even have to just talk about you home, we could always just talk about books, or just, just hang out together, outside the library, I mean, if that's what you want." She offers, a small part of her afraid of the possibility he'll say no.

"Yes, I would love to." He smiles. "I, I've never had a friend on earth before, so I'm glad your my first."

"Yeah, me to. About being my first friend that is!" She gets that out there, and begins to walk before she could feel any more embarrassed. "It was great talking to you! See you soon." She rushes out the door.

Quartz could only smile fondly as he made his way out the door. Waiting outside the door however was his sister, who face was way more excited than it should've been. "She's just a friend, Star."

"But you, and her, it was sooo cute!" She said as she embraced her brother with another hug. "Your first crush! And its cute, and I am not about to let you ruin it!"

"Really, than what about you and Marco?" He said with a sly grin.

"Pffft, wow Quartz, that's ridiculous. He's my bestie. Nothing can happen like that between besties." Star casually shrugged off as Quartz rolled his eyes. "But now's not the time to focus on our affections for others! Now is the time for us to stay together like we always done!" Quartz complies as he hangs off of Star's back like a back pack. "You ready to spend more time together?"

"Does Dad sneak off to fight monster's constantly?" He remarks as the both of them walk off.

"You know, I only found that out last week, weird."


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone, finally, glad this chapter didn't take another month to finish. School has made making chapters very inconvenient. Anways, I'm back to making this story, probably going to try to squeeze in two or three more chapters after this one, before going back to another story of mine that really needs to be updated.**

 **So yeah, just like I planned, this chapter is about Star and Steven meeting Lion for the first time. It was a little harder to make this one than the others, and over all, I think this chapter came out ok, not one of my best, but ok enough. Though I will**

* * *

 **say that this has more Moon than I originally planned on having.**

 **Shorter chapter this time, which might be what most of these 'buffer' chapters might be for now on, whenever I make one that either a flashback or detracts away from the main Steven and Star dynamic.**

 **Oh, and before I forget, I would just like to thank cartoonman from StoriesUnleashed for helping me with the last chapter. He gave me Ideas that were able to help clear the way for last chapter, and I really appreciate that. Don't be afraid to share any ideas or thoughts. Whether or not I use them, either way they help me concentrate on writing.**

 **I own nothing.**

* * *

Moon wouldn't have thought much of it. It was something she was too use to by now, so this shouldn't have been any more shocking than anything else in the past. Yet looking at the sight again, she didn't know how to respond to it.

Star, as of the moment she had walked into the room, found her eldest child, a now eleven years old, hanging from the ceiling. That wasn't strange, not really. Her doing it while she was in her younger brother's room, that in all honesty made things sound a little more normal. But her hanging from the ceiling as her brother held her by the arms, as he sat on the ceiling upside down, now that made things a little weird, which again, didn't say that much.

"Are you okay sweetie?" Moon asked her youngest child, a now six year old Quartz. Aside from parts of his hair covering his face, he seemed rather comfortable in his uncanny position.

"Ah, yeah, I doing fine, mom." The boy said with a smile, or frown depending on the perspective. "I've been stuck like this for most of the morning. I woke up floating in the air, and, and while it's cool, I kinda want to get down. Star tried to help drag me down, but, but that hasn't really worked out." He chuckled a little nervously.

"What are you talking about?!" Star said in her usual hyperactive tone. "This is amazing! Now I can finally have that indoor rope swing I keep asking for!" She proves her point by swinging her body back and forth, simulating what she had wanted.

Quartz of course was starting to have trouble keeping ahold of her wait as his fingers slowly began to lose their grip. "You should watch.." The prince began to warn his older sister, though it came out to late as she found herself flung forward at her mom, who, with a simple wave of her wand, held the elder Butterfly child in her place with a bright blue glow. The two young royals were of course awed in this sight. Their mother hardly ever showed of her magic in front of them, or at all for that matter. Quartz figured maybe it had something to do with the fact that she would be handing it off to Star in a few years, practicing how to handle things without the aid of magic.

Moon, however, was hardly as amused as her children were. "That's why you don't have a rope swing in the castle, Star." Star merely gave off a shrug of the shoulders as she pointed her wand now at her younger child, surrounding him in a similar blue glow. "Okay, I'm going to bring you down. Just, try to calm yourself. Don't get to excited now." She asked of him.

Quartz, not really understanding why she would say that, just nodded as he closed his eyes, trying to empty his stomach of any butterflies and excitement. It felt very tingly to be held by his mother's magic, and he fought the urge to laugh at it. He held in his chuckles though, very poorly, as he was planted on his feet, wobbling a little as he felt the blood rushing back to the rest of his body. "Heh, heh, why's the world spinning so much? Why, why can't I get stable?" He swung back and forth like a drunk hobo, struggling to keep his balance. His sister caught him as soon as he feel forward, preventing a collision with the ground.

"Seriously, why can't I do that? Why does he get to fly? I'm older, I should be the one flying around!" Star shouted a little to loudly, making the prince slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't like he was trying to up stage her or anything, he would just get really excited about hanging around his sister, and bam, he would find himself floating. "Where's my flying? Where's my bright sparkly crystal that gives me powers?"

"You do have one. It's the royal wand. And you'll get it when your fourteen." The Queen bluntly stated as Star gave a defeated sigh. "Take your brother somewhere, walk with him outside." She order, and the two felt no objection to follow this order, as they both left the room, Moon following suit.

"He's getting stronger." Moon spoke to herself. As Quartz got older, it was becoming more and more apparent that his abilities were growing along with him. Floating to the ceiling was only one out of the many cases in which his gem activated. Though if she was watching him as well as she thought she was, than he had yet to show any signs of the abilities that he had shown to have when he was a baby. She figured it was Star's magic that gave it a jumpstart, though they always popped up randomly whenever they were around each other.

And that's what scared her. Sooner or later, someone was going to make the connection between him and the Rose Guard, and she still didn't know if that was the best thing for her adopted son, especially at a young age. The entire kingdom would be elated if they knew the connection, heck, Quartz himself probably would be amazed if he knew right now. But others would know as well. Her enemies would know, and the magic High Commission would know, and if there was anything that the Commission did well, it was controlling and containing beings of power and magical stature. That, that is way too much for one kid to go through, especially a kid like her son.

Speaking of which, Moon grimaced as she made her way towards her room, and dialed up the number on her magic mirror. One of the members of the Commission has been trying to get ahold of her for a while, and Moon's bee trying to hold off on it for as long as she could. If there was even the slightest chance that they would be talking about the Rose Guard, than she didn't want to risk it at all.

"Mirror, Mirror on the wall, call Heckapoo." She groaned as she prepared to talk. This was simply a call of business. There was no guarantee or grant that they would bring up their old ally. They were the High Commission, they had more important things to talk about, like saving the universe, or planting corn.

An image of a white skinned woman with pointed ears and sharp nails came up on the screen. She has fiery red hair with a matching orange and red dress. Her hair was out of place though, as if to indicate a lack of rest or a rise in stress. "Moon. We need to talk about the Rose Guard and what she left behind."

Crap.

* * *

"Easy does it, Quartz. Easy does it." Star kept saying to her brother as they both walked down the hall. "Just like when you were a baby, follow my lead and you'll never be lead astray, ever."

"You mean aside from the time that you lead us and we got lost in the halls?"

"Oh, you only remember that day because Mom and Dad told you about it. I'm training to be a queen, so obvioully, I need someone to practice my leadership skills on." Star argued.

"Hm, can't really argue with that." Quartz complied, leaving a triumphed smile on Star's face.

For a little while after that, the brother and sister said nothing, mostly because Quartz was still trying to get his balance back, but the silence remained. Quartz always did find it amazing that he did have magic, it made him feel more like family around the castle, but it got a little uncomfortable whenever Star would say things like 'I'm the one who should be flying around!'. It kinda felt like Star was jealous of him.

"Ah, Star." Quartz finally said, once they reach the outside of the castle. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did, but I'll let you ask another." She joked, letting out a little laugh. "Don't be soo serious, Quartz! That's mom's job. I'm your sister, we can tell each other everything. For instance, I constantly sneak in extra cake for a late night snack." She gleamed. "Don't worry, I saved some for you."

"Heh, thanks." If Quartz was grateful for one thing, it was that his sister's cheerful smile made things a lot easier to talk about. "Are, do, do you know what you're going to do once you have the wand?" He asked. "Like, do you have a plan for it once you turn fourteen?"

"Of course, pfft." She casually replied. "I'm going to be the best magical princess ever!" She jumped in the air to show off how excited she was. "I'm going to use it to blast away every monster that surrounds our kingdom and have a party every single day! And the kingdom will be there, and all my friends, and you, and, and I'll make it an official law for everyone to learn how to ride a unicorn!"

"Yeah, Yeah, that sounds amazing, really." He commented, chuckling on the reality Star played in her head. "I, heh, I just wish I had a plan for my magic."

"What do you mean?" Star leaned her head a little, definetly not expecting this type of response from her brother."

"I, I like to listen to all the Butterfly's stories. They, they're all really, really great to learn about." He responded. "Everyone seems to have one. Mom, Salaria, Celenia, each one of them has a great story to tell. They all had their magic, and they all knew what to do with it." His eyes lit up. "And, and you already know what you want to do with your magic once you get it. Me, I, I just have mine." His head slowly begins to look down again. "I don't know why, I just, I just have it."

His reply was met with a hug. But unlike most, this wasn't one full of energy and bounciness, the kind of hug that made you almost want to stop it, but the kind of hug that was slow. The kind that took it's time to tell someone how much they cared for you.

"You shouldn't be asking yourself those kinds of things, Quartz." Star responded, looking at him straight in the eye. "You're younger than me, and I'm not going to have any brother of my moping, ever! Your special to me and this family!" Her hug tighten a little to show off her seriousness. "Never doubt that, never think that, and never, ever, stop being happy, okay?"

"Okay, okay, I'll, be happy, I'll always be happy!" He screamed out, laughing as his big sister finally let go of her grip. "I stop it, though, it would be a little easier if I knew how to summon my powers already." He looked out his hands, and pressed them forwards, hoping for something to happen. "Nothing."

"If that's the case, then leave it all to me!" She picked up her brother once more and ran off the stables of the kingdom. Rows and rows of horses, manticores, and unicorns were all lined up in front of each other. They paid little heed to the two children that had entered the room, being far too occupied by eating and sleeping to focus on the tiny intruders. "I remember everything that happened to you on that day! If we can just, relive that moment somehow, than maybe we can get you to remake that giant spike ball again!" She gleamed.

"That's, that's actually a great idea!" Quartz agreed. "We just need to put myself in danger, then I'll be able to do my magic!" His enthusiasm then dies down for a second. "But, how are we going to do that? I don't think we have monsters around here to hurt me."

"Duh, that's why I'm going to find one!" Star shouted once more. "We're going to find a big, scary monster like the one that almost killed us, and we'll get it to attack us! And just like before, you're spike ball will be there to protect us from any harm. It's fool proof!" She reasoned, opening one of the stalls and getting on one of the less tamed unicorns.

"But how are you going to find one?" Quartz skeptically asked once again, accepting his sister's hand as she helped him up on the steed.

"Oh Quartz, you know that if there's anything I'm good at, it's making monsters mad enough to attack me." She reassured, before hooking the reigns. And in no time at all, the duo burst through the streets of Mewni in blazing speed.

* * *

As a member of the Magic High Commission, one thing that was made absolutely clear was formality. Meetings were held always with high regard and seriousness. Yes, there had been times where members acted less than ideal, like when tantrums were thrown and being distracted by little things such as cans, but for the most part, everything was formal. And the members themselves tried there best to uphold this. Omnitracksis, who was pretty much an entire dimension of his own, Leckmen, one of there oldest and wisest members, even the more childlike ones like Rhombulous did their best, most of the time.

Heckapoo, the fiery demon and the keeper of the dimensional scissors, was no exception to this. She may have had her mischievous side whenever the mood called for it, but she took her job quite seriously. She always thought out her plans and ideas, making sure to end threats as quickly as possible, which is why she was considered to be one of the most dangerous people around.

Moon, if she hadn't gotten a look before hand, wouldn't have known if this was the same woman that had such fear and dignity to her name. Aside from the bags under her eyes and messy hair, her dress was all torn up, almost in patches, her arms and a part of her face were covered in scratches and scrapes, which also showed that she hadn't been introduced to a shower for quite some time. And when Moon looked closely, she could've sworn that she had some burn marks on her body. A fire demon, being burned, something that really shouldn't be possible.

"Hello, Heckapoo." Moon answered in a nervous tone. Heckapoo seemed really urgent on the mirror, almost as if she had discovered something. It was a scary thought to think that she was talking about Quartz. The Rose Guard was a invaluable ally to Mewni and to the Commission, often a voice of reason whenever tensions were high. It was a sad day when she left, but even to this day, the Commission were hardly ones to bring up their past ally, at least when it came to current events and affairs.

"Hey, hey Moon." The scissor master spoke in an unusually casual manner. Her voice was slightly slurred, almost as if she couldn't completely control what she was saying. "I, I really need your help on this." She practically begged.

"What, what could you want?" The Queen asked almost defensively. So far, nothing indicated that she knew the truth about her son, but she wanted to be as aware as possible. One slip of the tongue, and it would be all over. "You've mentioned the matter had something to do with the Rose Guard."

"Yes. You, you wouldn't happen to know, where she is, do you?" Heckapoo, said, almost pleading for an answer. "You were close to her after, you know." She put out there, feeling a little stupid for bringing up a sensitive topic. "Did she say anything that could've indicated where she could've gone?"

"I, I, really couldn't say." Technically, that wasn't a lie. No one new where she had gone. "She asked to remain private. We all swore to respect that." She answered, feeling slight relief that she wasn't going in the direction she assumed they were.

The fiery Commission groaned in frustration. "Ahhhhg. Uhhhhgh, Whhhy?" She spat at, almost losing her footing in how tired she was. "I, I really, really could've used her help on dealing with this!" She let out a scream, opening a portal to show the Queen what she meant.

The two ladies stepped in, and they entered a random dimension with a clear and open space, though the air around them showed them a different story. A whole bunch of small and pink portals were left open, unattended and unguarded. Random stuff from each dimension poured into the ground, from fire, to water, to a bunch of bugs covering the entrance of one of them.

"All of these portals are being randomly opened, and I've spent the last two months outside my dimension trying to close them all! But close one, and two more open up! It's a never ending cycle that keeps going on and on and on and on and.." she began to trail off in a tired gaze, one that she would've been stuck on if Moon didn't take two fingers and dab her on the fore head. "Thanks."

"Well, this is troubling, but what does this have to do with her?"

"It's because she's responsible for these things!" Heckapoo screamed, where in the distance, a large blur roamed freely in desert like field. "You!" She yelled once more, opening up her own portal to catch the thing off guard. With a fierce growl, she launched forward, only for the beast to let out a booming voice, enough to disorient the two commission members and buy itself enough time to escape.

"What, what was that thing?" Moon question, still not sure exactly how this fit to what they were talking about.

"Something that I promised the Rose Guard to watch over." She sighed as she picked herself up. "He usually stays in my dimension where it's no problem, but he's been making these portals lately, and I can't catch up with him." Her gaze saddens as she throws her arms down. "It's frustrating, and I really, really need to sleeeeep!" She practically cries as Moon awkwardly stands there, not to sure how to feel about watching her fellow member losing her composure.

"Well, I, I guess I can help. I got nothing really to focus on today, other than keeping my children out of trouble." She answered, just grateful that Quartz was being kept under the radar for the moment.

"Oh, heh, I almost forgot to ask you about that." She should've expected that to happen. "How's your son doing? I heard that he was starting to develop his own magic."

"Oh, well, it's, it's a, it's going." She lamely replied. "I, it's still going to be awhile before it develops into anything. Right now, we're just focusing on making sure he's not going to do anything dangerous with it."

"And where is he now, exactly?"

"I put him in the care of Star for the moment." Heckapoo stared at her like she was crazy. "In hindsight, I've should've given them more specific instructions. But it's not like they'll be able to get into much trouble all by themselves." Heckapoo still stared. "Again, I really didn't think that through well enough."

* * *

Despite the doubt Moon had in her own words, she was, strangely, right about Star and Quartz not getting into trouble. Not for a lack of trying, mind you. The duo were indeed on a fast past ride all over Mewni once they reached the outside of their own kingdom. Though they immediately ran into a problem once they did.

"So what's your plan with the monster again?" Quartz thought of asking once they were able to pick up the pace. He tightly held on to his older sister as she leaned forward with a determined grin.

"To find one and have you beat it up with your magic bubble powers!" Star yelled into the face of the wind that was brushing against her face.

"I got that, but, exactly how are we going to find a monster?! Do you know where one is or where they hang out or something?!" He yelled in equal volume.

"Not really!" She answered honestly, though not discouragingly. "I just wait until I find or do something that makes a monster mad!"

Quartz nodded his head, knowing that his sister's logic always yielded the same results, chaotic and fantastic fun. "Do you at least know what you need to do to do that!?"

"No!" She responded. "I don't know how monster's think or feel! For all I know, they live like animals and only rely on there instincts! I mean, just look at Ludo!"

Quartz did remember the little bird man that plagued the kingdom on occasion. Leader of probably the only group of monsters that stay together, the sad little monster spent most of his time in a castle of his own, ordering his minions to steal the wand, though most of the time they hardly got beyond the walls of the kingdom. Quartz often wondered why they didn't just send some troops over to his castle and arrest them, though when he told Star about his inquery, she responded with 'oh, he's just too annoying to really be bothered with.' The prince supposed it was true. The bird man himself wasn't really scary so much as he was just an angry man with issues.

So for most of their 'search', the royal siblings found themselves just wandering around in a circle as they enjoyed the ride they were on. It was such a fun and thrilling ride that the two pretty much forgot all about what they were suppose to do. It didn't matter whether or not they did what they set out to do, all that matter was them enjoying the moment.

Of course, that moment didn't last as long as it should've, for the stamina of the warnicon, as great as it was, had a limit, especially when carrying the two balls of energy. The steed finally fell apart, stopping mid run in exhaustion and proceeded to lay on the ground. This sent the two ridding royals into the air, sending them into the ground with a sudden 'thump'. The two were too happy of course to notice as they just started laughing at the situation rather than groaning in pain.

"What, why are we doing this again?" Star blurted out, still chuckling at what just happened to them. She reaches out her hand and helped her brother off the ground.

"We were doing this so I could find a way to use my magic, but it doesn't look like we'll be doing that today." Quartz said with a small smile, a little disappointed that this was not what was going to happen today. "It was really fun just riding with you Star. We can head back now." Both of them stare at the still panting warnicorn. "Guess we also have to wait on that though."

Star spoke again as the two walked in no specific direction at all. "Hey, I said I would help you bring your magic, and I'm not going to stop until I fulfill my promise."

"But there's no monsters around, how are we going to anything about it if I don't have anything to fight?"

"I always find something to fight, Quartz." She stopped as she leaned against something big, tall, and soft. "Plus, we're Butterflys, since when has the impossible ever been an impossibility?" She leans in more into the soft wall, just now noticing the furry nature of it. "Since when do pink pillows grow out of the ground?"

"And when did pillows start breathing?" Quartz added, making the two twins walk back a little in fright when they saw that the large pink lump was moving. Rising above the ground it rested on, the large pink lump stood tall above them, a little bit bigger than the warnicorn that they rode. It definitely was a lot stronger as it's big, strong, and hairy legs moved slowly, a large thump could be felt around the area. The two royals only looked up at the large creature, having a big mouth with a heart shape nose, and a large, fluffy light pink mane surrounding it's entire head. The creature looked down at the two kids, only giving out a large yawn before lying back down again.

"Is, is that a pink Lion?" Star questioned, more curious than afraid once she saw the lax nature of the creature. Quartz continued to be quiet as he slowly approach the creature. Before his sister could offer anything to say or do, the young prince had set both of his hands on the creature's muzzle, lightly petting its face and forehead. The lion's blank stare offered no really reaction to what it was feeling or if it was enjoying it as it allowed the little prince to touch him.

"Awesome." The boy whispered, continuing his petting as he leaned forward. "It's like touching a huge pile of cotton candy without the stickiness, like the pile of cotton candy that we found the other day."

"Hey, at least with the cotton candy, we got to stick together the entire day, until Mom forced us into a bath." Star off handily mentions as Quartz got closer. "Be careful. I don't want to see you get hurt over a large kitty cat."

"But you constantly ride wild unicorns. How is this any different?" Quartz slightly ignored his sister as he continued to pet the creature. Once it was made clear it wouldn't do anything else, the little prince began his climb of the ball of fluff and fur.

"Yeah, but unicorns aren't meat eaters, and I'm me. I'm always trying to do stuff like that." She asks, only to see her brother mounting himself on the large pink cat. The boy just hugged the lion's huge mane as he practically sank into it. "Fine, but at least let me join in. We don't know if this things a monster or not."

"How could you say that about Lion?" Quartz accused his sister as he lifted his head from the Lion's hair. "He's the most lovable pink animal in the world, just look at that face." He points to the Lion's face, who's expression was as blank as ever, staring up at the blonde princess. "He's friend. A friend with claws that could rip up our flesh, but a friend nonetheless." Star just stared deeply into the creatures eyes, increasing the seriousness of her gaze every few seconds.

To the slight surprise of the cat, who only slight flinched in reaction, Star immediately dropped the stern act as she dived in and gave the beast a big snuggle. "Aww, how could I ever stay mad at this face!? You're right, Quartz. It's adorbable." She spoke as she hoped right onto the back of the Lion, holding tightly on to her brother as she settled. "Okay, enough gushing, lets see what this baby can do!"

Nothing happened. The two royals said nothing as a full minute of silence filled the air, no one making a sound, though the siblings still held on to there excited gazes anyways.

"Is he sick or something?" Star murmured through the skin of her teeth, keeping her smile big and wide.

Hold the same expression, Quartz answered. "I, I don't think so. Maybe we need to ask." He leans slightly to the right, whispering in the large cat's ear. "Hey buddy, I know you just met us, but we would like to ride with you today, please? Would, would that be any trouble at all for you?" His eyes got really big, even though the cat could only see him from a side view.

As if to respond, the Lion slowly got up and began to walk forward. The prince immediately wooed in excitement, though the smile on Star's face quickly began to fall as she began to sigh.

"This is not what I expected a lion ride to be like. Soooooo, boooring." She groaned as the lion growled, almost like it took offence to that comment.

"Hey, this is probably the only time he's ever carried someone, let alone two people. Just give him time, I'm sure he'll speed up once he warms up to us." Quartz defended, though it did little to lessen Star's frustration.

"I mean, he's a large cat, a pink lion, I just thought that would entitle something a little more amazing than, than this." Star continued to complain, although the lion's eyes begin to narrow a little. "This is no better than a regular pony ride. we might as well get back on that tired unicorn, because this thing's going slower than..."

Whatever comparison Star was going to make was completely left unsaid as the Lion immediately picked up the pace, speeding at incredible speeds as the two kids struggles to hand on and gain balance. Of course, Star's attitude picked completely back up as she howled at the rush of wind being blasted in her face. "See, that's better! Who says complaining gets you nothing!?'

"Ah, Mom says that, Star!"

"Exactly!" She shouted with no guilt in her voice whatsoever. "Come on, you were thinking it to, don't deny it, little brother."

"Heh, maybe it was fine for this time." The prince chuckled as he held on to the Lion with an even harder grip as the speed. "It's okay, Lion. You're a special cat either way." His hold turns into a hug as the lion continued to press forward.

The Lion, still with a face full of determination, suddenly, making a sudden sharp turn to the left, narrowing his eyes as it sped up, a soft vibration emitting from the creature as it was felt by the two siblings.

"What, what's going on.." Quartz began to question, pretty sure that something exciting was going to happen next. And of course, right as he expects, the Lion lets out a tremendous roar from it's mighty breath, a bright, pink glow shooting out from his mouth as it launches out in front of them, taking on a more circular shape as it flattens a little. "Is, is that what I think it is?" The boy shouted as they came closer and closer to the portal.

"I have no idea, but either way, we're about to find out!" The older sister shouts in excitement, as both elated children embrace themselves, as the large pink creature leaps forward into the glowing circle, and closes as it engulfs the three bodies in it.

* * *

"So, what exactly is your plan for catching this creature?" The queen asked a little quietly, seeing as how as of the this moment, Heckapoo was not going to be the easiest person to communicate with. The demon's eyes were becoming bloodshot as it became more and more apparent that her lack of rest was starting to affect her thinking.

"I'm, we're, we're going to wait for it, no, wait, yes, we're going to wait for it." She smiled tiredly, determined to get it over as fast as possible. "Every so often, that fur ball keeps popping into my domain to rest, so all we need to do is wait for the moment he comes through that portal, and wham, we hit him with everything that we got!" Her chuckles emitted an eerie tone to add to Moon's discomfort.

"Isn't that a bit extreme, especially something that the Rose Guard held dear?" She tried to reason. The last thing Moon wanted to do was see something of hers get damaged or hurt, considering who her own adopted son was.

"Yes, yes it is. And extreme is something that we need to have in order to deal with this thing! It's smart, it's cunning, and it, just, won't, let, me, rest! It needs to be stopped! Stopped, for goof, for good!" She quickly corrected her pronunciation, though it did nothing to ease the Queen's nerves.

"I suppose I can see where your coming from. I, I guess it's just been a while since our old friend has been brought up." Moon spoke with a little melancholy in her voice, which was enough to get the frantic red head's attention.

"Yes. Over a decade or so. I, I guess I hadn't really noticed." Heckapoo said, thinking about it. Time wasn't really something on her mind, seeing as that her home timeline was a lot faster than most. Years, decades, even centuries in her own domain could count for mere seconds or days anywhere else. It didn't give her a lot of time to be sentimental over things, or people for that matter. She suppose that's why she agreed to take in the Rose Guard's 'pet' when she asked her to. She was one of the few who could stay their for as long as she wanted to without the effects of time hindering her. The same applied to the creature she watched over. "Ugh, where does the time go?"

"It gets a little easier each day." Moon comforted the pale skinned woman. "It helps to talk about it a little, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I suppose it does." The tired commission Member lightens up a little, allowing herself to relax. "You, you think that we could try to find her? It, it would make a lot of things a little more easier around here, wouldn't it" She asked the Queen, who was caught off guard at this.

Fortunately for the Queen, that only happens for about three seconds as a bright pink portal is brought suddenly into the air. Both woman stare at it, though for different reasons. Moon stared at it in slight shock, while Heckapoo stared at it in anger and frustration.

"Your not going to escape me this time! I'm stopping your travels right now buddy!" The fiery lady launched forward, not even giving Moon a plan or a chance to speak her mind as she took out the two halves of her own dimensional scissors, and prepared to strike...

whomp.

"Hey, no attacking the pink Lion. He's our friend!" An echoey, young voice came up suddenly, making the hot headed commission member blink a little in surprise. On the creature that she had spent the last two months chasing, was the two children of her fellow member, riding it's back, and from the sounds of it, were having a lot of fun doing so. Though another thing caught the commission lady's attention, something that the Queen in secret groaned in frustration.

Around the three people that had just come in, was a bright pink, slightly familiar, bubble, protecting all three of them from whatever attack that Heckapoo had just pulled.

"Quartz, you did it!" Star shouted as she picked up her little brother, which caused the bubble to disappear instantly, though the smiles on the children did not. "You made your bubble again, and you protect Lion! That's what your good at! Protecting people, protecting me! Like, like some sort of hero, or, like a knight!" The boy could only blush at his sister's praise, as both royal siblings began to acknowledge the audience of two that they know had.

"How, how did you, how did.." Heckapoo tried to ask them, a little stuned that these kids were holding on two the most troublesome thing that she had experienced in recent memory. She couldn't really think outloud

"How, how are you here? And why are you on that, creature?" Moon finished for her, slightly angered, though more relieved mostly out of the great timing that it gave her. She had to give her kid's antics a little more credit than she would have.

"Oh, Star was just trying to help me with my magic, and we met this buddy right here in the middle of nowhere." Quartz happily replied as he continued to hug the creature.

"He started to run, and the next thing we knew, we were traveling everywhere. A desert, the underworld, outer space, a dimension where there were nothing but blenders..." Star spoke up next.

"Oooh, don't forget about that one filled with fish people. That yellow cheese guy was hilarious!" Quartz chimed in.

"Eh, I've seen funnier. Ooh, what about that universe where all those super people were fighting each other? That had everything! Action, powers, destruction!"

"It was okay, but I thought it was a little too dark and grim for my taste." The child shrugged.

"Wait, so you've been portal hopping all day with this thing?" Heckapoo asked once she was able to find her tongue again.

"Yeah. I just asked him nicely to take us somewhere, and he listened." The prince answered, petting the expressionless pink cat.

"He's the most friendly vicious and wild animal that I have ever met." Star joined in on the petting, and knowing her past with that sort of thing, that really didn't say that much.

"Wait, all I had to do was ask it?!" Heckapoos screamed, her flame getting more bigger.

"Well, did you ask it nicely, and pet him, and tell him he was a good boy?" Quartz, unfazed by the lady's anger, questions, and Heckapoo was then rendered silent again, which told you all you needed to know about her answer.

"Guess he was waiting for someone to ask nicely." The little prince conclude as both children were suddenly dragged by the arm by their mother, who seemed to be in a rush.

"Well, I guess that settles that. It was great catching up with you, Heckapoo, see you at the next meeting." Moon quickly said, wanting to get out of there already. She had narrowly avoided Heckpoo's radar, she didn't want to risk it any more than she had to.

"Wait, we can't just leave Lion here!" The princess broke free from her mothers hold, grabbing her brother as she did, both continuing to hug the non-expressive beast.

"Lion?" The fiery commission member asked, confused by the name.

"Yeah, that's what I called him." Quartz answered. "Because he's a lion, and because he's more of a lion than any lion that I have ever met."

"Doesn't that face just scream, 'hey, I'm a Lion. I'll do liony things, lion, lion, lion, growl, lion." Star mused as the two royal siblings deepen the hug with the large cat, who continued to carry a face of apathy.

"Can't we keep him? He already listens to me. Watch. Lion, sit." The boy spoke up to the creature, who remained uninterested in what the boy was saying. "Lion, sit. Lion. Lion. Sit." He repeated over and over, only to have no response as the Lion stared forward. "Eh, we just met. It's, it's going to be a while before we're there, I guess."

"Now hold on, we can't just take this.." Moon began to outburst, knowing that this was probably a bad idea. On one hand, she would be watching over another thing for the Rose Guard. But that what lead to the problem, it still belonged to the Rose Guard. Quartz narrowly avoided suspicion today already. Holding something else so close to the Rose Guard was just too risky.

"Yes! Please, take him!" Heckapoo shouted in a frantic and begging manner, desperation soaked every word she had spoke. Everyone's eyes, even the Lion's, pointed towards her. "Sorry, sorry, but this is the most still he's been for years, and usually by now, he would've tried to escape." Heckapoo sighed, hoping to avoid anymore embarrassing outburst like that again. "I, I know this might be a bit much to ask, but, can you please, PLEASE, take him with you? I, I think he might stay still a bit longer if he goes with you."

"I, I don't, I don't know. Maybe, I need to think about this a bit longer." Moon began to question. It was fitting, in a sorta cosmic sense, to oversee the lion, especially since Quartz had already formed some sort of relationship with the creature. That, and she might never he the end of Star's complaining if she didn't accept it.

"Look, I know it might be a bit much to ask, but the Rose Guard was closer to the Butterflys more than any other member of the Commission. If anyone deserves to watch over it, it's you." Heckapoo pleaded. "And it looks like your children have already bonded with it. Plus, your son was able to summon that bubble thing to protect it. Maybe it could prove to be a, educational experience for him."

Again, Moon held her breath for a second in slight fear, though she allowed herself to breathe a little easier once she reminded herself that Heckapoo didn't question Quartz's magic. She saw it in action, but she made no connection to him at all. Good.

"Alright, if it's okay with you, I guess the Butterflys are having a new pet?" She said with an unsure voice, though it was quickly drowned out by her children's shouts of joy.

"Alright, a fierce, destructive, and adorable pet of our own! Can this day get better or what?!" Star elates.

"I'm going to ride it all over the castle. Oh, just think of it, the adventures we can go own, the battles we'll face, the snacks that we can eat late at night." The prince began to fantasize.

"Yep, you get to have him all on your own, no take backs, no contracts, just get him out of here!" Heckapoo, losing her patience, said as she opened a portal back to the castle at Mewni. "Okay, we've had our fun, so, take that giant ball of fluff and get out here!"

"Wait, we can wait a while. Maybe tomorrow we can take him so that we could.." Moon tried to voice her opinion again, though once more, she was interrupted as she was shoved from the behind, being pushed forward into the portal by Heckapoo.

"Nope, no need to prepare, he's mostly independent, he doesn't require much, just take him and he'll adjust." Heckapoo quickly said before making Moon go through the portal. "Okay, in you go, kiddos. Enjoy your free cat."

"This is the greatest! Thank you, Miss Poo." Quartz politely said before leaving, on the back of the creature along with his sister. Heckapoo was too tired to take offense to the Prince's accidental insult, so she instead waves back kindly to the young boy, before quickly closing the portal and throwing away her scissors.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you..." Heckapoo repeated over an over, saying it a little more slowly as the fire on her head began to get smaller until it eventually went out. Her body suddenly fell limp on the flow as her eyes closed on her, a slight smile forming as she finally got the chance to rest.

She was happy to help a friend, but this took it way to far. When she got the chance, she would find the Rose Guard, and deliver that overgrown cat in a body bag, well, if she got the chance, and if she could get away with harming the pink annoyance.

Oh well, it was the Mewman prince's problem now. Who knows, maybe he could prove to be the perfect owner for such a creature.

She was sure the Rose Guard wouldn't mind the decision she made.

* * *

 _Next time, it's going to be my First Episode Addaption! Hooray!_

 _So prepare your wings, we're diving into Mewberty!_


	9. Chapter 9

**Uggggh, finally, I get this out. Sorry dear readers, but I got caught up in trying hard not to fail my classes, and then I got sick, so yeah, this should've been out faster.**

 **I had fun writing this, and yeah, I feel good about how it turned out. Hopefully you guys feel the same. This is the first chapter that adapts a whole episode of one of the shows, so please send constructive criticism, as I am still new to writing this sort of story.**

 **Guest: That actually sounds like a perfect idea for that episode. I didn't have many plans for watermelon Steven, but considering how the S.U is going through the most changes here, that seems like a perfect fit.**

 **Guest: Yes I have heard of that au, and some bits of Quartz changing forms will be addressed here, but not by much. I have plans for a 'corrupted' form to appear in my adaption of 'cat fingers'.**

 **Please comment and review, they keep me motivated through all my stories.**

 **I own nothing.**

* * *

To the little Mewman prince, it felt like it was going to be a normal day for him, as in, he was pretty sure something big and out of control was going to happen later, though he really couldn't place his finger on how he knew. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he hung around Star so much. Maybe he was just so use to her energy and excitement by this point in his life that he now had a natural sensor for all things that were crazy and weird. Maybe it had something to do with that magical link that his mom said they had( she was kind of vague on the details involving that, though he didn't really mind. He was sure she had a good reason for it.).

Or maybe it was because he work up that morning with a slight dizziness in his head. Nothing nauseating or worrying, he thought so at least, but a bit strange to feel, especially so early in the morning. He could really say that it was a bad feeling to have. In fact, it felt a little nice. It was like that feeling you got when you finally stopped and sat down after spinning around for about two minutes. You just had a smile on your face as you watch the world go out of sync, and you laugh at how silly the world all felt and looked.

At least, that was the feeling he was getting. It was slightly woozy, but the good kind that made you feel good, the kind that you had the made you lighter than air, like nothing would or could go bad. It was a nice feeling, and as the boy swung his head side to side, back and forth, he formed a slightly silly smile on his face, practically waltzing his way to the dinning room, where his Mom and Dad were waiting for him.

Struggling to make a straight forward beeline to his chair, after shifting back and forth from the left to the right, Quartz, after struggling so much, finally crashes into his spot, where he struggles to climb up on the chair. "Good morning." He speaks in a slightly slow manner, maintain the same, droopy smile on him as Moon had a look of 'I'm happy to see you, but I think something is wrong with you.'

"River, do, do you think something's wrong with Quartz? He's smiling a little oddly." Moon leaned over to her short husband, who was in the middle of eating a large bird leg.

"It's a little hard to tell, Moon Pie. You do realize that this is our son that we're talking about, right? He smiles all the time."

"Yeah, I know that, dear, but this, this smile is different." Moon presses her concern. "It's, it's not as, cheerful as the others he's had, and, and he's messing around with his food." Both parents continue to watch their dazed son, and of course, he was, motioning the food he had on his plate in a seemingly random pattern.

"Quartz, are, are you okay this morning?" His mother finally spoke to him, and for the first time in that morning, Quartz looked as his parents.

"Ye, yes, I'm fine, I'm okay, just, just doing, swell." He stammered, struggling to keep his words focused. "Just, really, really excited for today! We, we get to work more, more.." His expression gets more drowsy. "We, we're working, working."

"Are you sure you're alright? You seem to be a bit, distracted." Moon questions. "Are, are you feeling tired at all, or anything like that?"

"Maybe. Maybe. The training has been getting a little, little harder to get through." He spoke in a stammered tone.

"I think I can speak for everyone here when I say you should probably take a bit of a rest today." River finally spoke up. "Go, see what Star's up to. We all know you want to go there."

"I, thanks." Quartz agreed, smiling and leaving breakfast without saying another word, leaving the two adults to speak freely among themselves.

"River, I, that was a bit of a rushed discussion, don't you think. I'm sure a nap or two was all that he needed today." Moon slightly berated her husband, walking over to her son's plate of practically untouched food. "If he can't get control of his abilities, than it'll be harder to conceal them before the time is right."

"Moon pie, Quartz is still a child. He needs the time to play, run around, and fight monsters to prove his mettle." River through out there, though not without Moon shooting him a glare. "Ah, maybe not that last part, but still, the point stands."

"I guess, but still, I wish I could know exactly why he's so distracted this morning." Moon leans over the plate, and notices the initials C.M written into the food everywhere. "Who's C.M?"

"Ohhh, OHHH, OHHHHHH!" River suddenly spewed from his mouth, gaining a realization. "Oh, I thought that this day would come, but I'd never thought it would be so soon! Ah, that's my little boy. He's already using that natural charm of his." The king spoke proudly.

"River. What are you talking about? Nothing, bad is happening with out son now, right?"

"Oh, of course not!" Moon was able to breathe a little easier at that. "He's told me all about this a while ago. It's absolutely nothing to fret about. He's probably thinking about that little girlfriend he got when he visited Star's school."

"Oh, it that all." Moon sighed in relief, leaving the table, though she immediately turned her head back once she processed those words. "Wait, what?"

* * *

Speaking of crushes, Quartz wasn't the only one of the royal sibling to be distracted by a potential significant other, as a dazed and smitten Star was completely on cloud nine, gazing tirelessly out the window, where in the parking lot of the school, a loud, obnoxious, and very irritating sound came from the edge of it. The source of this disturbance was none other than Oskar Greason, an aspiring 'musician' that spent most of his time grunting and smashing randomly on his keytar.

If you asked any of the teachers, than he would've been known as the school's bad boy, not for anything bad actions of his own really, that kind of reputation mostly stemmed from the fact that he hardly did anything other than practice his 'art' during class time.

 _"Mom don't tell me what to do! I don't have, to listen to you!"_ The rebel spoke in a rhythmic speed, clearly creating his art from personal( and quite frankly, very troubling) experiences. _"Mom I don't have to follow your rules, I'm going to live in a car at the school!"_ The car bounced up and down repeatedly, only adding to the awful but somewhat catchy tone that he was producing.

Star, initially drawn to Oskar by the fact that he had a 'record' according to the principal, listened to the music as she stared dreamily out the window. She, oddly enough, found herself relating to the sound he was making.

Next to Star was Marco, who had been waiting by his best friend long enough for things to be awkward. "Star, hey Star!" He waved his hand in front of the dazed blonde, who did absolutely nothing in response to Marco's intervention, despite how loud he shouted. He could only sigh at his clearly deluded friend.

From what she had told him, and from what he had figured on his own in the few months that they have known each other, Star was attracted to troublemakers, people that were clearly not the best influence around her. Then again, Star herself was exactly a fairy tale princess, so it kind of balanced out a little. The best he could do as her 'safe kid' and best friend was support her and hope she ended up figuring things out for himself. It wasn't like he had the best experiences with Romance to judge, anyway.

"Star, time to go." Marco said for the final time as the bell rung, in a rush not to be late. Though upon trying to reach for his friend, he stop to stare at something that seemed to be a little off about her appearance. "You got some paint on your head, right about here." He points to the middle of his own forehead to show what he meant.

Finally snapping out of her love struck gaze, She could only give a confused look as she feels her on forehead. Sure enough, upon feeling it, she felt something thin, flat, and a bit sticky, proven by the slight struggle she had getting it off. Though upon looking at the purple, heart shaped object, she couldn't help but get a sinking feeling deep down in her gut. "Th-is, this, this is definitely not paint." She spoke with a slight stammer, holding the little heart away from her body.

Not taking her change of tone too seriously, Marco shrugged as he motioned Star to follow him. "Well, guess you have another heart."

"Marco! This, is, serious!" Star corrects the chill tone Marco had. "I think i'm going through.." She stopps at that last word, gulping upon hearing it's name. "Mewberty." She said at least in a ominous whisper, thinking of those words like a curse, feeling that even saying it out loud would've made something bad happen. Sure enough, as soon as she said it, purple hearts began to pop up all over her face like a bad case of acne. Ashamed and scared, she quickly turns her back and uses her own hair to cover up most of her face.

"Whaaaaaa-okee?" Marco answered a bit awkwardly, not sure how well this 'mewberty' translated to his own experiences. It was times like this that Marco whished he had taken the advanced health class. Sure, it would've been uncomfortable to listen to, but it might've helped in the long run, case in point. "I'm sure it'll be fine, it's nothing to be embarrassed about." He answered with a uncomfortable smile. "Heh, we have a similar thing here on Earth..."

"Don't confuse this for your Earth things, Marco! I'm from Mewni!" She pointed and yelled accursedly. "It's going to get really weird." She emphasized as she whispered, getting closer to Marco as she grabbed ahold of his backpack, almost dragging him down to the ground. "You have to keep me away from boys!" A slight realization hits them both, mostly Star tough, as her pupils become heart shaped, as she leaned in on him in a more, suggestive manner. "Wait a minute. Marco's **a boy**." She said that last part with lust and infatuation bleeding into the air, enough to make Marco uncomfortable and back away slowly, snapping Star out of her trance for the moment.

"Heh, yeah, when you say that this is going to get weird, do you mean typical Star weird, or like, destroy the school weird?" Marco asked, hoping for the former.

"Destroy the school." Star immediately answered in a loud whisper, making Marco sigh as he walks out the door.

"That's what I was afraid of." Marco said, slightly shrugging as he made his way out the room. Skipping school was hardly something you'd find the red hooded boy doing, but for the sake of his friend, school seemed like the least of his worries at the moment. Best case, nothing bad with happened, and he'd be one step closer to losing his safe kid image. "Come on, let's get you home."

"Yeah, yeah. My brother's coming over soon. Maybe he can keep me in a bubble until this passes over." Star slouched her posture, still hiding behind her hair as she shadowed Marco's path, trying to stay out of the way as much as possible. She truly did her best not to cause a scene, but sadly, her efforts were slightly in vain, as avoiding the opposite sex of the school proved to be a harder trial than she had foreseen.

"Oh noohnoohnohonohono.." Star kept repeating to herself. It seemed that the mere presence of any male seemed to trigger her lovestruck mood, and Star found it increasingly difficult to even walk as she stared deeply in a trance the moment a guy crossed her path. "Avert your eyes, aver your eyes." She kept talking to herself, doing her best to keep her eyes covered, though that could only last so long as her eyes seem to demand to look at a boy. "Marco, this isn't, I don't think that this is such a good.." once again, her train of thought is stopped by a boy, who was doing nothing more than drinking from the water fountain. Staring intently at this unimpressive act, Star's eyes formed hears as she slowly put her finger on the spout, catching the attention of the guy once he notices. **"My turn."** She sings with a creepy smile, the hearts continuing to spread all over her face, and into her arms.

Marco, already passed his limit with the levels of uncomfortable, quickly grabbed Star's purple covered arm. "Whoa, okay Star, that enough, lets go."

Thiwp.

The trial only seemed to get even worse once Marco touched her. As soon as contact was made, a thick, sticky, purple web like substance shot out of Star's arm and onto one of the nearby lockers, making the two teens silent before screaming.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" The loudest of the screams came from the princess herself as she tried to run from the mess she was making. Before she could, or Marco, could do anything about it, a portal appeared from the sky, and out from it came the little Mewman prince, falling on his bottom as soon as he came out. "I really, really need to work on those landings." He said in the same daze as earlier, though it seemed to have died down a little.

"Quartz!" Star shouted, immediately giving her little brother a hug. "Oh, you have no idea how much I needed to see you, something normal and not crazy!"

"Yeah, yeah, it's great to see you to, Star." Quartz finished returning the hug with a smile, though he found it really, really hard to let go. "Ah, Star, I, can you let go now?"

"I'm not holding on to you." Star answered, gently pushing her brother away from her as they both looked down. Sure enough, a thick, purple substance formed between them.

"Okay, this, this seems a little weirder than usually." Quartz reacted with no real shock to his voice. "Though I guess this isn't the first time we've been in a sticky situation. There was the time with the cotton candy, and the ice cream, the cake, the corned cream.."

"AHHHHHHHH! NO, no, no, get away, get away, get off!" Star immediately screamed, shoving Quartz off her body with incredible force and strength, making him land pretty hard on the other lockers. Star's face drops from disgust to concern as she watches her brother groan in slight pain.

"So, so, so, soooo, SO sorry about that Quartz!" The princess was quick to apologized. "But I'm going through a little, bit, a tiny case of, Mewberty." She explained with a bit of uneasiness. "It's not really the best moment for us to, touch each other at the moment, or, for me to touch anyone at the moment."

"Okay. Okay, I, I think I get it." Quartz complied, getting up to look at the webby mess that his sister had made, though getting closer to his sister, the same, drowsy feeling returned, though it felt a little more, welcoming this time. "Do you want to go back and get Mom for you? I'm sure she'd be more than happy to help."

"Nonononnoononno! Definitely not!" Star shouted defensively. "The point of being able to stay here is to make sure that Mom knows nothing about anything weird and or wild going on around here! She'll assume that I'm not ready to handle magic on my own and then I'll be.."

"...Sent to Saint Olga's school for wayward princesses." The two boys completed in a matching tone, causing the princess to shrink a little. Had she really been using that excuse that often?

"Okay, well lets at least get you home." Marco concluded, once again reaching for Star's arm, which was still stuck to the locker door. "Here, let me help you with that."

"Don't!" Star once again shouted, backing away from her friend and into the locker. "Your little boy hands are part of the problem." She locks herself inside, leaving Marco to feel slightly insecure about that last comment.

"Okay, okay, so we can't take you anywhere without triggering more of those, web things." Quartz thought, looking at the webs a little closer. "Isn't there any spells you know that could fix this?"

"Wait, the book of spells!" Marco eyes lit up. "It's your family's spell book and your guy's family history, right?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Quartz agreed with a smile. "It has everything about the Butterfly's in there. Surely, there must be a thing or two about Mewberty!"

"Then we shouldn't waste time, come on, let's get that book!" Marco and Quartz began to run off, only for Star to stop them in their tracks.

"I didn't leave it at home!" Star groaned in embarrassment. "I gave it to Ferguson!"

"Wait, why did you give it to him?" Marco asked in concern.

"And why would you agree to give it up anyway? Isn't that like the one of the most valuable things that we own?" Quartz adds, doing nothing to help Star's increasing guilt.

"I lost it in a bet. He asked, so I agreed." She huffed. "Its not a bet I'm proud of losing. Have you seen him eat his food? I've never seen one person scarf down so much creamed corn. But enough about that. Do you want to help me or not!?"

"Okay, we're going, but we're definitely talking about that betting thing later." Marco replied back, turning the other direction, signaling the prince to follow him. Before he could though, Quartz was stopped once again by the sound of his sister voice.

"Wait! Quartz, before you go, I need you to have something." She only opens the locker door the slightest bit, allowing her to slip out a singular object, her wand. Quartz eyes widen upon it being placed on his hands. He hadn't gotten a good look at the family's heirloom since his first day coming to earth. "If you do find something to stop this, or need to stop whatever comes next, I need you to hold on to the wand for me, you know, just in case."

"But, but the wand's only supposed to be used by the heir to the throne, and that's you!" Quartz tried to argue, not really sure how to feel about this. On one hand, this could be the best day of his life. The little prince loved to here everything about the wand, it was the greatest treasure that his family held. The prince always felt a sense of pride to be related to such a great family( even if it was by adoption.), but to be so near to probably the greatest treasure in the universe, that, that made him want to faint in happiness. "It, it belongs to you! I, I can't!"

"You need to, and I want you to take it!" Star answered back, her voice slightly echoing from the confines of the locker's closed space. "You've had all that training with Mom, and no one else here has any idea how to use it! Your the only one that can."

"I, I don't know, Star, it's, it's our greatest treasure, and if anything happens to it.."

"Nothing is going to happen to it, because it's in your hands, Quartz." Star kept reassuring. "I don't know anyone else that I can trust with it." Quartz still seemed to be a bit hesitant with it. "How about you just promise me that you'll hold on to it until this thing is over. You can do that, right?"

"That I can promise, Star." He said with a more reassured grin. "I'll make sure the wand comes back to you, to where it belongs." He nods one last time before joining Marco.

"Good luck, guys."

* * *

"So, can you shed a little light on this Mewberty thing?" Marco asked as both of them began to rush down the halls. "I mean, does this thing happen to everyone where you guy is from?"

"Ah, not really." Quartz said with a slight sheepishness. "Mewberty only happens to girl mewmans during their teenage years. It's kind of like a caterpillar to Butterfly thing, ironically enough." He chuckled. "She'll most likely go through some sort of big change, like an extra head or something, and will have absolutely no control over her actions as she tries to balance out her hormones by gathering as much boys as she can to satisfy her creepy thirst."

Like any sane person would, Marco more than tilted his head at his response, though he managed to put that strange explanation in the back of his mind, for the moment, at least. "Is there anything else that you can say about it, anything at all?" Marco begged, hopping there was something they were missing.

The Mewman prince's head slowly dropped."Yeah, sorry. I would know more, but when I asked mom about it, she told me it wasn't proper for a prince to ask about such 'vulgarities', which I still don't understand what it means."

"It probably means its just a little to PG for you to know for now." Marco offered a reply. "Don't worry, this is far from the first strange thing to happen around here. I'm sure between a master of karate, her brother, and that book, we'll be more than enough to figure out how to fix this." The red hooded boy comforted, making the boy look up just a little.

"Okay, class is still in session." Marco spoke again once the two of them made it to the Spanish class window, on the inside were various students repeating seemingly random phrases that the teacher had spoke. "I'm going to see if I can just end this quick. Just, wait here." Marco instructed as the boy peeked through the window, trying to get his friend's attention.

Quartz was happy to comply as he gave a slight mock salute and leaned his short body against the wall. It was the perfect time for him to rest all things considered. He still couldn't figure out that weird feeling he was experiencing. When he was with Star, the wooziness seemed to stop. Did this have something to do with her Mewberty? Did whatever bond they had have some sort of effect on him? Again, this was something he really whished he could've just asked his mother earlier.

"Hey Quartz." A familiar and sweet sounding voice rang in his ears. His heart paced a little as his eyes widen at the sight of his latest friend, Connie. He, for an odd reason, struggle to regain his posture as his heart refused to slow down. She was still dressed in her somewhat formal attire as the last time he had seen her, though something about her hair just made..

"Hey! Ha, he, high, hello, Connie, what, what are you doing here?" Quartz blushed, immediately talking in order to get his brain back on track. A blush immediately crawled on his face, though he remained unsure of where this sudden flustering was coming from.

"I kind of go to school here, Quartz." Connie answered with a small chuckle, choosing to avoiding bringing up how embarrassed the boy seem to be feeling. "The teacher decided to call it a half day, on the account of some sort of giant moth creature crashing into the classroom. I thought, since I can't call my parents at the moment, I'd might as well go and ask Star if she knew anything about that, now that I sort of know her, you know, through you."

"Heh, yeah, I'd probably ask her, but she's locker herself in one of those metal chambers at the moment." Quartz was able to speak once he felt a little less flustered. He lloks straight into Connie's eyes, the lovely, eyes that he could

"Are you okay, Quartz. Your face is turning a little red." Connie's words snapped him like a pencil, noticing how close he really was getting to Connie, the kind of close of the more uncomfortable kind.

"Yes! Yes! I, I'm just fine!." He answered a little to loudly, making Connie back up a little. "Sorry, it's just that I've had a long week at home, and my sister is kind of maybe, probably going through a monstrous transformation."

"Oh." Connie answered with a slight slowness to reply. Even after seeing Quartz's magic up close, it was still magic, and it was a field that was completely out of her league. She couldn't even pretend right now to accept it like it was normal like the Prince could. "Is she going to be okay?"

"I really hope so." He answered, mostly just to reassure himself. "I still have this if things end up going down hill." He holds out the wand in front of Connie, whos eyes immediately began to light up.

"Is, is that the wand?" Connie gasped. "Like, like the wand that your sister uses everyday to fire lasers and magic?!" Her hands immediately began to draw closer to it. "Can I, can I please hold on.." Her hands immediately made contact with the relic without meaning to, and before Quartz could do anything about it, his heart speed up upon feeling Connie's hand, which likewise held their place as both kids blushed. Connie tried to speak to apologize, but she stood still. Quartz did the same, his mind telling him to move closer, not minding if they could just hold on to each other for just a little bit...

"Okay, nothing useful here." Marco grumbled as he pulled his face from the window. "Come on, we have to check with another..." He pauses as he watches both awkward kids in their position, none of them moving an inch. "Uh, was I interrupting something here?"

"No!" "Nothing at all!" The kids quickly answered, the both of them not even sure what they were doing back just then. Quartz just held on to the wand tightly as he tried to move own from this. "We, we were doing something about my sister's mewberty, right?"

"Right." Marco answered a bit slowly, knowing better not to stay on that topic. "Let's go then. I know where the book is now. Come on." The red hooded said without another worked, walking forward, with the prince right behind him.

"Hey, I, ah, is it, would it be weird if I tagged along to help?" Connie asked as she followed. "I, it's kind of a slow day for me, and, well, we haven't known each other for that long, so, would it be okay, I mean, can it?" She sputtered out, still not feeling comfortable with how she had worded her sentences.

"Well, it wouldn't be any weirder than anything else that I've ever done, so I don't see why not." He gladly shrugs as both kids run along ide each other, none of which knew exactly how weird things were about to get.

None of them noticed the slight glow emulating from Quartz's stars either.

* * *

It was really frustrating for the princess. For the past who knows how long minutes, she had been stuck in a small metal container while picking off the purple hearts on her skin one by one. It was hard work, and honestly very disgusting for her, seeing as she didn't really know what that stuff was to begin with, but she had finally managed to get the majority of them off, slipping the fallen pieces through the lockers openings.

"Really not the best time for this." She moaned. For once in her life, she had wished her mom was here. She wished that she had done this back on Mewni, where the weirdness was normal and more well-equipped for this sort of thing. And she definitely didn't want to do this in front of her brother, considering what was the trigger for it. He was too young, too innocent, he didn't need to see her like this. She needed to be stronger, smarter, more dignified than what she was.

"Okay, now I'm starting to sound like mom." She mutters with slight disappointment in herself. Before she could continue on with her brooding, the school bell rang once more, signaling all the kids to exit their classes and move on to the next. "Oh, no oh no oh no!" Star whispered, peeking from the locker's holes to see the various teens make there way. Every time anyone of the male variety passed her way, her heart skipped a beat and another two to three hearts would be added to her skin. Frantic, she began to rub her arms as quickly as she could to scrap off as many of them as possible.

"Keep it down, keep it down, just stay down until Marco and your brother figure out how to fix this." She told herself to calm down. "Then afterwards, we can finally talk about his love life. Quartz, you really need to stop being in denial about.." She tried to speak, only to hear more voices coming out from ahead of her locker.

"Okay everyone, we're going to have our warm up out here." A masculine voice came in. Following it was the school's male swim team, wearing nothing but their swimming speedos, leaving absolutely nothing hidden from the Princess's view. " The Pool's been compromised. There was an accident in the pool. Poop. It was poop." The swim Captain explained to the rest of his muscular team. "Someone pooped in the pool."

Not waiting for anything else, the group began to stretch out their bodies, sticking out their rear ends into the air as they leaned down. Poor Star, too enthralled by the sight and her increasing hormones, couldn't resist any longer as she gave in to her more lustful thoughts, literally spreading apart the opening of the locker like paper to get a better view.

Soon the hearts came up more, and more, and more until they began to pop up everywhere like popcorn, encasing her, as well as the locker she was in, underneath a pile of the purple substance.

* * *

"Hey guys, wanna see a dead opossum?" The trouble maker known as Janna sly said as she walked up to two of her friends with a large burlap bag. The two sane and frightened girls were of course frightened by what Janna had said to them, and were immedietley hesitant to say anything else to their friend.

"Naw, I'm just messing with you. I gave the dead opossum to that guy over there." She pointed to a young kid wearing a sailor suit with a pear shaped hears and hair that sorta went up like a swirl. His big expressionless eyes were only made more emotionless by his blank smile. He only raised up a thumbs up in returns as he walked away with his own bag, which started to move. "At least, I think it was dead."

"Doe-s, does that kid even go to this school?" One of the frightened girls asked. Those eyes just stared out her soul.

"Probably not, but I know that his brother does." The trouble maker casually spoke as she ripped the bag off from the large old book that was in it. "But seriously, check this out. It's a spell book from Star Butterfly. Everything magical and destructive that comes out of that wand of hers came from here." She closes in on it as her smile becomes more possessive over the book. "We can do all sorts of witchy stuff with this thing."

"Can we use it to get my parents to stop fighting?" One of the girls spoke up with slight hope, though before an answer could be fully given, Marco ran up, causing the two to run off in fright. Not long after, Quartz and Connie caught up, both slightly distracted by the conversation that they were currently holding.

"Is it going to be that bad?" Connie asked in worry. The prince had explained the whole Mewberty with a somewhat eerie calmness, though she could trace bits of sadness throughout his voice.

"Yeah. I imagine the feeling to be like eating bacon for the first time. Once you get that first taste, you want nothing but bacon, and you'll do anything to get it."

Ignoring what they were saying, Marco groaned as he kneeled down to pick the book up. "I've been looking all over for this!" Of course, Janna wasn't going to try and make it easy for him, as she grab ahold of Marco and held him close to her.

"Well, now that you have that little book, lets make some magic with it." She joked with a suggestive tone, making even the two younger kids turn there heads at that.

"Knock it off already! I don't need your help." Marco shoved his way out of Janna's grip, who's smile had not gotten any smaller. She was clearly enjoying his reaction if anything. "I'm already dealing with crazy from one girl today, and I don't need it from another. I can handle this."

Rolling her eyes, Janna scoffed as she skipped off. "Whatever, you'll need me soon enough, Marco Diaz. Because, I got your house keys." She showed off the contents she stole and continued to run off.

"Is that even legal?" Connie blurted out once she was gone from view. "And are you just going to let her get away with that?"

"That's just Janna. Before Star came, if you wanted a daily dose of weird, than she's the one to go to. Better to never question it, I'll just change the locks to the house, until she steals those keys!" He says, clearly more mad about it than he let on.

"Wow, high school is weird." Connie muttered, with Quartz nodding in agreement.

"There's no time to think about it, come on!" The teen began to flip through the book, whispering 'mewberty' to himself as he skimmed through as much pages as he could. "Quartz, you know this book better than anyone here. Isn't there some sort of glossary in this thing or something?"

"Hehe, well, it's not a glossary per say." Quartz muttered with a slight hesitation. And before he could explain any further, the pages of the spell book began to flip on their own, making two out of the three kids back away, expecting some sort of big explosion or something. Instead, rising from the pages of the worn down book was a small blue man with a yellow robe, floating above the book with a show-offish smile one his face. Quartz quietly moaned at seeing him again.

"Did someone say, Glossaryck?" He cried out, smiling wide as the two normal people surrounding him could only gaze in confusion. Because that's my name, Sir GLOSSARYICK!" He announced, literally spelling out his name for them in bright purple letters. "Of terms. At your service, ma lady." He respectfully bowed gesturing towards Marco.

"Uh, eh, I'm not a ma lady." Marco responded with frustration, insigting a small chuckle from both Connie and Quartz.

"Oh." The blue man stared at the red hooded teen, getting a good look at all of him. "Could've fooled me, good bye." He bluntly insults as he turns o his side, allowing the pages of the book to engulf him, before Marco grabed on to the cover, stopping him from closing it entirely. "Look, this spell book isn't for the likes of you. Magical princesses only, kid!"

"Can you make an exception for a magical princess's little brother?" Quartz spoke up, causing Glossaryck to peek out of his book and looked towards the Mewman prince.

"Ahh, Hey Steve, long time no see. How's the belly button?" The blue man quickly changes his tone from bluntly apathetic to gratefully talkative in a blink of an eye.

Quartz could only roll his eyes. "Glossaryck, my name is Quartz." He snapped back.

"Sure it is." The small blue man smugly answered. "I'm only the all-knowledgeable being of everything ever. You look like I Steve, and I've had centuries to know what I Steve looks like." He floated to the top of Quartz's head and laid upon his soft, bushy hair. "If I say your a Steve, than your a Steve. It's just logic."

"What, who is this guy?" Connie looked further, still a little weirded out by the floating blue man that appeared out of nowhere.

"This is Glosseryck. His one of the oldest beings in the universe, and kind of also like a travel sized teacher for any user of the wand." Quartz said with a strange amount of detest in his tone.

"You forgot to mention smartest, wisest, most magical, most powerful, most important, need I go own?" Glosseryck gloated on.

"Is most annoying on the list, because I'm pretty sure that your where the definition comes from." Quartz snarked, making Marco widen his eyes a little. Star said nothing about her brother being ticked off at something.

"Oh Steve, you wound me so. Are you still mad about the thing with the bubbles? I can't be blamed for something that I didn't know was going to happen. How did I know that it was going to explode?" Quartz crossed his arms, making sure to not say another word. "Or is it about that, _other_ thing? I told you, telling you about it is out of my hands."

"Okay, you can clear the air later, just tell us how we're going to fix Star." Marco picked up the blue man by his head, making him pay attention.

"Oh, Star Butterfly, my latest little trouble maker." Glosseryck remembered fondly, before turning serious once again. "What's wrong with her this time?"

"She says she going through Mewberty, and she's making these weird purple web hearts everywhere."

"Oh, is that all? Why are you worried then?" Nobody in the group was amused by his apparent apathy for the situation. Sighing, he spoke again with a mischievous tone. "Fine, I don't usually make acceptations, but maybe we can work out some sort of deal."

"You want pudding, don't you?" Quartz deadpanned, explaining it to the others. "Every time he wants something, it's usually pudding." Quartz answered. "It's what he asked me the last time."

"Exactly, pudding. High schools have excellent pudding." He floats up right in Marco's face. "Brrrinnngggg me the pudding, and I'll tell you what you need know." Marco scoffed, grunting as he sped walked away. Leaving only the kids behind to watch, the awkwardness left behind was reaching uncomfortable levels. Not caring for any of the seriousness of the situation, Glossaryck continued to keep his smirk. "Omnipotent knowledge has his limits, mine is a sweet tooth for something gooey that just slides down your throat."

"Are you really asking us to feed you when my sister, and the school for that matter, are in terrible danger!?" The Prince's voice got louder, showing that the kid was really losing his temper. "Your her teacher, her mentor, and your just going to be, be, be this lazy bum through it all!?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Steve, turn the dial down a bit." Glossaryck try to reason with the Prince. "Your usually a little more reserved than this. Why the fire?"

"The only fire that's going to be around is the flames of the underworld if you don't straighten out and.." Quartz marched forward towards the floating blue man, actually looking like he was going to hurt the little guy. Despite showing no apparent worry for his situation, the mini mentor slowly backed away from the prince as he reached out to grab him. Luckily Connie grabbed ahold and held back the boy before he could do something that he would regret.

"Hey, slow down. We're, we'll do everything that we can to help your sister, but nothing's going to be down if you spend all your energy being mad at him. Just take a moment to.." Connie spoke in hopes to get the boy to cool of a bit. As they stared at each other, the two sets of eyes became locked onto each other once more, and the Prince found himself lost in her gaze. With his star's glowing a bright light, he came in closer, penetrating Connie's personal space and hugged her tightly. Not sure what to think of the sudden embrace, Connie could only blush as she looked to the only other person around them. "Is this normal for him?"

"A little, though I don't think he's ever been this, huggy, or so quick to accept after an argument." Glosseryck said inspecting the two kids. "Come to think of it, I don't think he's ever been so upset about something like this before, and considering his mother, it seems almost impossible." He lowers his body a little, getting closer to the boy's stomach area.

"What do you mean? Mom get's mad all the time." Quartz blurted, as if he only just know acknowledged the world around him. He then took a quick look to the person he was currently embracing, and once again he separated himself from her, awkwardly trying to explain what had just happened. "What, I, didn't, Connie, I, didn't, this, what.."

"Don't worry Steve, your sudden lovey-dovey escapade is not your fault, to an extant at least. I would've tried to hug something other than the peasant." Glossaryck popped between them, ignoring Quartz's confusion and shoving them both away little with his arms.

"What do you mean/Did you just call me a peasant?" Both kids asked, both a little confused and a bit miffed by the man's vaguness by this point.

"I still need my pudding. But let's just for now that Star's Mewberty is growing.." Glossarck points back to Quartz's cheek marks, which haven't stopped glowing, though know all three people present began to take notice. "..and she's not the only one being affected by it."

* * *

"Come on Lars, there's literally no reason for you to skip out on work today. Literally none." A short blonde teenager walking along side a taller teenage boy with a huge puff of red hair on his head along with two big ear lobes on each side. The boy simply tried to ignore what appeared to be his friend as he sped walked towards his locker.

"Come own, Sadie, do you really think that I can go to work after everything that I've seen." Lars complained as he tried to keep his face forward, not turning around to face the shorter girl. "Monsters and magic, and stuff keep appearing all over the school. I've almost died trying to get those things away from me. I think I'm entitled to a little breather.

"Lars, all that magic stuff happens in the freshmen grade. You're hardly ever near it when something happens." Sadie argued. She knew that all the talk he was spitting out was just his general laziness that often struck him whenever he felt like it, which to be honest, was actually every other day.

"Not true. That football game was horrifying. I almost fell into one of those portal death things and had to run for my life when that bird creature tried to swoop me up. I was in mortal peril." He shouted as they both came to a sudden halt. Lars finally turned to his friend as he opened up his locker, not noticing the contents of what was inside, or the small, quiet voice that kept whispering ' **BOY'** every ten seconds. "I've been traumatized for life."

"Lars, you were in the parking lot when it started and went back home after you freaked out over the bird. It wasn't even close to you." Sadie sighed as she knew her words were having little to no effect on her friend's apathy. "And I really, really need your help. Something's been living in the dumpster again, and I really, really could use your help in.." Sadie at that point was rendered speeches as her attention was turned to the dark creepy presence and purple presence inside the metal container.

"Yeah, but, but that's not the case! I'm hardly fit to work after.." The continued to weasel out of the conversation, finally facing his locker, and noticing what didn't belong there.

It was Star, but aside from the hearts on the checks, one could find it hard to recognize it. Her entire body, and the entirety of the locker for that matter was covered in the weird heart things, covering every space that the locker whole. With a creepy whisper and a oddly shaped expression on her mouth, the girl slowly raised her arm from the sticky mess of her doing, and reached for the boy. Not knowing what to do, Lars and Sadie stood still in slight horror as Star poked the left cheek of Lars. Nothing happened after that, other than the heart's encasing hearts encasing her face, leaving nothing but the shinning glow of her eyes that burned though the piles of hearts.

Saying absolutely nothing at all, Lars quickly slammed the locker shut, and walked away without another word. Sadie wasn't far behind. She figured, maybe just this once, Lars was right to not work today. Maybe it was best that they both didn't work today. Who knows how long it was going to take to forget that frightening sight?

Unfortunately, Star's transforming was not complete. Despite the locker being closed, the hearts began to spread everywhere and everywhere, expanding to the point where the locker burst open, spreading out a dark, purple, vine like structures everywhere.

It was almost time.

* * *

More than a little angry by how they were going nowhere fast, Marco stomped his way back to the trio, and threw the pudding cup done at the book, not taking the time to acknowledge the uncomfortable aura surrounding them. "Here you go, pudding." Glossaryck still smiles, not doing a single thing to grab the thing he had asked for. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"You have to feed me the pudding." He said like it should've been oblivious. "I can't do everything for you. You need to start pulling your weight if you want answers."

"Oh, for the love of corn!" Quartz outburst, snatching the spoon from Marco's hand and opening the cup himself. "I'll do it." The two others back track themselves just a little as the frustrated prince prepared to feed the arrogant little man. "Happy now? Good. Talk." The prince snapped as he impatiently waits for Glosseryck to swallow the large lump he had given him. Marco and Connie, a little unnerved by Quartz's irritation, chose to step back a little, just in case.

"Reminds you of the last time doesn't it?" The blue man recounts as he continues to ignore Quartz's growing anger. "You, me, some pudding, questions you want answers to right away. Funny how life finds away to repeat itself."

"I told you to drop it already." Quartz speaks, grinding his teeth as he did. Taking a breath, he calms himself down before allowing himself to have another outburst. "I was mad, but I got over it. It's not important to me anymore."

"Sure, and I'm not the keeper of the most sacred text of all of Mewni." Glosseryck said in disbelief, turning his attention back to Marco. "Now, you said that she's going through Mewberty?"

"Yes!" Marco exclaimed." How do we stop.." The boy stammers for a bit, noticing the huge mess around the little man's face. "Your, face, you got everything, all over your beard."

"Listen kids.." Glosseryck interrupts, scooping up as much of the pudding on his facial hair as much as he could, and quite messily at that. "You can't stop it." He smiles as he holds no reservations on delivering the grim news. "Nature has a course it needs to take. The more you try to fight it, the more it tries to fight back."

"Come one, isn't there anything we can do?" Marco begs, really beginning to regret this idea altogether. "Quartz, can you say something to.." The boy finally took a long look at his best friend's brother, and sees that something was definitely wrong with him. Aside from a angry expression that didn't really seem to fit his image, the stars, and now his eyes were now becoming illumonious, bright enough to bother people even during a bright sunny day. His eyes were just that, a light, no white, no pupil, just two glowing bulbs.

"Quartz, are you feeling.." Connie's concern was pushed to the side as once again, Quartz confronted the little man, looking like he was about to bite his head off at almost any moment now.

"Ah, more pudding please." Glossaryck writes off the anger. Up to his limit by that point, Quartz takes whatever's left of the pudding cup and dumps it on the blue man's head. The other two kids of course were slightly shocked by this, though not by much seeing as how he kind of deserved it. Glossaryck didn't seem to mind this however as he began to lick away at the sides and the various drops that fell all over his body. "No matter, Star she be back to normal soon. Sometime around, 3:57 lets say." Lifting the cup over his head, he sets a timer on a little watch he was wearing. "Or she won't."

"Won't what?" Connie asked with confusion. "And's what's going on with Quartz, you said that the, Mewberty was affecting him somehow?"

"Won't be back to normal. Either she does, or she doesn't." His smile made his chipper demeanor all the more inappropriate. "Growing up is weird like that. As for our angry royal here.." Quartz was being held back by said girl, not because he was trying to attack the little blue man, but more out of the fear that he might. With his eyes still glowing, it was hard to tell exactly what the little boy was thinking. "His magical empathic bond with his sister is directly responsible for this. Mewberty is an emotional train wreck on most mewmans when they go through it. Though the sudden influx of hormones seem to make him less lovey like his sister, and a lot more fighty like you see right now." A short growl emerged from boy. "It's a interesting case, that's for sure. I can only imagine what will emerge once it's completed it's course."

"Oh please, you're just saying that because you don't know how to fix this!" Quartz tried to advance, though Connie's hold held him back. Unlike last time though, her touch did little to comfort him.

"It's either that, or I'm a lot better at handling reality than any of you." Taking one last peek at the pudding cup, he uses his finger to scape away any remaining remnants of the sweet fluid before tossing it to the side. "That's just how it is. Nature is nothing more than a runaway dump truck. Hot, fast, and full of garbage."

"Wait, so, we've been standing here, feeding you and talking in circles, for nothing?" Connie concluded. "You had no intention of helping us, did you?"

"Eh, kind of. You were the ones who insisted on getting my advice. So long." Laying in a straight position, he falls backwards into the book, ready to close it.

"Wait, there has to be more than that!" Marco exclaimed, not wanting this to be in vain. "There has to be something that you're not telling us!"

"Haha, of course there is." He smiled one last time. "But than again, you're out of pudding." With no apologies, he slams the book shut, leaving the kids more confused and irritated than when they started.

"Oh, forget this!" In a burst of anger, Quartz lift the book over head and throws it across the room, leaving it where it lands as he storms off to go back to his sister. "We'll be better off taking her back home. Come on." He orders the other two, who were confused on what they just saw.

Finding her voice first, Connie turns to Marco. "Are, is he going to be okay? I mean, Glossaryck said that Star might not go back to normal. Do you think that might apply to Quartz as well? I, I miss the him that I met back at the library. And those eyes are a little creepy as well."

"I know what you mean. Seeing him in that state is kind of scary." Huffing, Marco could only shrug." I, I don't know, and right now, we don't need to know about it." With dertemination, Marco marches forward after Quartz. "Right now our friends need our help. Lets just see what we can do and go from there."

Feeling a little less than reassured, Connie nodded her head a little. Soon there was nobody left in the halls but the book, and a smiling Janna.

Before she could go out to grab it though, the same little kid she gave the opossum to runs by and quickly drags the book away with all the strength he had. "Hey! Come back, you little rat!" Janna shouted as she ran after the little guy.

* * *

Of course, things weren't going anymore smoothly as the trio made their way back to Star's location. The clouds for some reason started to darken as they made their way pass all the various vines and roots that had planted themselves around the surrounding area. The students were a frighten by the sudden bout of chaos as they duck and hid behind anything that was available to them. None of this was making it any easier for any of them, especially as shrieks of horror echoed through the halls.

Marco, Connie, and Quartz all made sure to avoid the obstacles in their way as they made it back to Star's locker. Though it became abundantly clear that nothing was getting easier for them when they finally had in it their sights. A huge, gapping hole in the shape of a heart was squished and indented into the metal chambers, the only thing filling it was the mess of hearts that were left behind.

Creepy didn't even begin to described what they were seeing as chills ran down the two non-royals. Sure, Marco had his fair share of Star's random and chaotic world that he was often introduced to on a daily basis, but it this was pushing the envelop just a little. What made it all the more troubling for him is that unlike the previous times before hand, Star was just in the dark about the weirdness as he was. She was unprepared to take it on, and even worse, she was the one that they had to face.

Connie, likewise, was silent on what they were facing. When the rumors of magic started to go around the school, she was thrilled. This was the real deal. It was more than just some fantasy story that she could on and on about, this was actual magic, real, reality defying, and potentially life threatening magic. It made her question everything she had come to know about her everyday life, but most of all, it made her curious. Meeting Quartz was amazing on it's own, but she would be lying if she said that she didn't get butterflies with the idea of seeing/actually doing magic.

This, however felt like the wrong time to get excited. Not only was her friend's sister going through something dangerous to either her and/or other people, it seemed to be taking a toll on Quartz as well. Those glowing eyes were just scary, and, ashamedly, she made sure to walk in front of him to avoid looking directly at them.

And Quartz himself was getting more and more quiet. He had hardly said a word after getting his frustrations on Glossaryck out. Not that anyone could blame him, but it all it did was off put the two humans even more. He was feeling anger, anger that didn't even feel right to him. Sure he was a little mad at Glossaryck for not really helping them, but he didn't hate the little man. He never wanted to be mad at anyone, except those that actively try to destroy his family. It was just so confusing for him. He'd either wanted to punch Glosseryrck across a room or hug Connie, and to be fair, the second option was very welcoming, but if he did, he would just continue to fell droopy and dizzy all over. At least with all the anger he was able to keep his head on straight.

The prince gripped the wand in his hand as he stopped in his tracks, his guard held high and his eyes and cheek marks growing brighter than ever. "Guys, I, I think she's close by."

Before Marco could as why, a sudden grip was forced on his right arm, tugging him in that direction. The sudden feeling made Marco nearly jump out of his hoodie, only to realize that it was only a student. "Please. Get us out of here." The boy shouted in a whisper. All three kids on the outside saw what he meant as rows and rows of other students where trapped in the lockers, each one of them held back by the same vine-web heart structure. Whether freshman or senior, jock or nerd, popular or unpopular, the one thing that they all had in common was that they were all boys.

"It's, it's just like some sort of spider!" Connie analyzed as she got a good look at the uncomforting sight. "Whatever the mewberty is doing to her, it's given her some sort of predatory nature! She gathering up a collection of weaker organisms and cocooning them for later! Wow!" She elated announced with a little too much enthusiasm in her voice, which of course did nothing to comfort the ones trapped, some taking offense to the 'weaker organism' comment. "Maybe it's like a praying mantis thing to, though I guess that it really wouldn't end well for anyone here." She laughs off in discomfort.

"Then we can't waste anymore time. Let's get them out of here." Marco orders as the both of them attempted to rip the boys free. Both had expected the prince to assist them, but for some reason, the young royal had elected to stand still where he was, almost like he was waiting for something.

That's when the creepiness got amped up to a ten. Right in front of them, about 20 feet away another teen, a bit scrawny and wearing glassed, screamed and panicked as he was dragged out of the room he occupied in a vain attempt to escape from the creature's wrath. Six arms pushed out of her body, using the added strength from each one to effortlessly carry her latest victim with a single emotionless expression defining every single movement of her body.

Dragging him to his fate was Star Butterfly, her Mewberty transformation now being complete, with various shades of purple covering her body and clothes. She know lived up to her name sake as a huge pair of wings, not too dissimilar to an insects. "WHAAT?" Marco let out a confused moan. "Star, what, what are you doing?" Star paid no heed to her friends as she ripped a locker from it's hedges without a sign of strain or stress, and throwing her latest victim right in it, beginning to surround everything in her thick webbing. "Star, get ahold of yourself, your, you're freaking everyone out." Marco warned, scared for himself, the school, and his friend. Star only gave a blank stare back, hardly noticing who Marco was as she continued to web up the poor, traumatized student.

"Quartz, go to her, maybe if she see's you, it might actually calm her down enough to stop." She stopped trying to free to boys as she made way to her friend. "Quartz.." She tried to gain his attention again, though when she reached for a shoulder to grab on to, it was interrupted by a sudden halt of another hand.

Quartz, for whatever reason, grabbed her arm, and kept it like that. Facing her, the Prince held onto the same emotionless expression as his sister, and the glowing of his blank eyes only added to the creepiness. "Quartz, your, you're scaring me." Connie let out, forcing her hand away from him. That's when the changes to Quartz started to affect as well. The hue of his skin became a light shade of pink, and his hair also became pink, slightly resembling rose petals as well. Claws formed at the tip of his finger nails, and a single fang arose from his mouth. "Quartz?" Connie fearfully asked her friend, who's only response was silence as he walked forward.

"Star, you need to stop now!" Marco demanded with a little more force, grabbing onto one her many wrists as he attempted to talk the princess down. "Your have everyone in a frenzy, and your transformation is making your brother go crazy too. You have to.." Marco, again, was interrupted as Star held him up with the two arms she had in the middle. Her blank face observed the now nervous teen all over, before slamming him against the wall and proceeding to web him as well. Panicking, Marco proceeded to struggle against it, but to no avail as Star kept piling on the webs to seemingly no end. "Co, Connie, I, I can really use your help right now!" He shouted, trying hard not to get the sticky substance in her mouth.

"Can't really help myself, so, you'll have to wait!" Connie answered, now equally scared. This was getting to terrifying levels now as Quartz only silently stood before her. No intention was made, and everything he was doing was made unclear. Both kids found themselves trapped in seemingly inescapable traps. "Quartz, please don't." She begged in a quiet voice. This prompted a slight flinch from the changed Mewman prince, who paused for a second, only to pounce forward, and a scream soon followed after.

Marco and Star didn't see or notice what was goin own with the younger kids as both were suddenly distracted by another sound. A rhythm of random keys playing in a failed attempt to make music. Flying up high, Star, like a moth to a flame, slowly flew towards it, making sure to grab it when it was at its most vulnerable. "Osssssskarrrr." She excitedly buzzed his name as she flew off, leaving her friend completely trapped in her web.

"This isn't good." Marco panicked as he continued his struggle. For the most part, Star was mostly behaving like an animal, mainly going on instinct with her hunt, but now she was flying towards someone she had a genuine attraction to. If she got to him first, than it could be the final straw that pushed her off the edge. "Got to, got to, break, free!" He groaned with every effort he could put it.

"Need some assistance?" A young, slightly echo-y voice called out below him. Looking down, it was Connie and Quartz, the former of which had a slight blush on her face while the former was still in his transformed mode, only now his eyes weren't glowing anymore. "Let me get that for you." With three swipes from his new claw, the red hooded teen was finally free from the sticky prison, though that didn't stop Marco from his continued shock and staring. "I know, it's a little weird, don't really know what happened either. I blanked out for a second, and, and Connie did something, I think?"

All eyes fell on said girl. "I, I don't, I couldn't say what happened, I, I think I, no.." She blabbered out, feeing too flustered and nervous to complete her sentence.

"No time to dwell on it." Marco stopped her before she could faint from embarrassment. "Quartz, are you able to use the wand?"

Slightly taken back by the question, the boy gives a small and hesitant nod. "Yeah. Yes, I can use it." He said truthfully. "But Glosseryck said that there was nothing we could do."

"We don't need a spell to change her back. We can put a pin in that plan later." Marco answered as he lead the way to Star. "We just need to buy a little more time."

* * *

Star's chase was not ending. With her enhanced sight and speedy flight, she made he way towards her target, who didn't move from his spot the entire day. "I don't like your boyfriend, Mom." The rebellious boy 'sang' as he tried to make music. This only seemed to enhance the Butterfly all the more as her glowing eyes widen with happiness.

She couldn't really think all that clearly, or remember that much about herself. She just did what her brain told her to do, which was catch boy after boy, and trap them for later. What she would do with them later depended on how well they preformed under pressure.

She didn't worry about that though, all she needed for everything to be complete was Oskar. With as much enthusiasm as she could muster, she dived deep down towards the probably homeless boy and reached out her arms to grab the unsuspecting teen. The closer and closer she was, the faster her heart paced, the more the desire to give into the creature she was became stronger. This was how it was, this was how she wanted life to be, nothing, nothing was going to stop her from...

"Rainbow Fly trap!" Quartz voice shouted at the top of his lungs, along with the strum of what sounded like chord's of a stringed instrument, and right before the crazed Butterfly could get he grabby hands on her target, her entire body became entrapped on a hard, colorful substance that rivaled the stickiness of her own webs. Struggling, she used all the power she had in her wings to attempt to peel her body off of it. See did so with relative ease, though the next spell didn't make things any either. "Raseberry Ribbon Lasso!" The Prince shouted again alongside the strange melody, as a bright stream of sweetness tied two of the girl's arm together, making it more difficult for her to escape.

Not to far from them, on top of one of the buildings, the trio was there, each one of them holding on to each other, pulling back to stop the girl from flying off. At the end holding the stream of brightness was the prince, holding on to Star's wand itself, though once he cast his first spell with it, the appearance changed. It was brighter in color, resembling a darkish red/pink tint. The entire shape of it completely changed, becoming slightly larger and wider, and resembled something like a little guitar. The crystal was at the very end of it, connected to the instruments' tuners, and sticking out at the sides were four large rose petals.

"Great shot, Quartz." Connie complemented as she struggled to bring use all the strength in her little body.

"Yeah, I've spent enough time around Star and Mm to know how it works." He smiled a little. He was downplaying his happiness of course, because if he could, he would be exactly like Star when she first got the wand(though hopefully a little less destructive). "I just wished that my first time using it wasn't against my sister."

"Just hold it steady!" Marco called, the struggle all three of them being apparent as they all pulled back as hard as they could. The sweat beating down, not just in strain, but in fear failing. Especially for the little prince, that was an awful feeling to have. He couldn't lose his sister now. He had to keep fighting, he had to pull harder, he had to be stronger for her, be strong just like her.

"Quartz!" Connie yelped, struggling to maintain a grip as she peeked over at her friend. "Your, your cheeks, your eyes, they're, they're.." The girl lost her grip and fell on her back before she could finish her warning. With one less person restraing her, that gave the Princess all the freedom that she needed to fly upward in a attempt to escape.

It proved to be a little too much for the two boys as Quartz was lifted out of Marco's grasp. "Whoa!" The prince grasp, quickly being suspended in the air as he was about to be shot upward, before Marco jumped up and grasped Quartz again, holding him close as he fell backwards on his back, making the both of them hang down backwards on the slanted roof, and sling shooting the Butterfly creature into a nearby tree, causing all the teens hiding in it to scurry of like a pack of squirrels .

Sighing, the two felt relief for about two seconds, as Star's feral side refused to relent it's crusade, flying upward, dazed and confused on what to do, like any other animal. This took the two boys holding on for a wild ride, as Star flew randomly in almost every direction she could think of. There was no thought or planning in her head at the moment. Just emotions of fear and panic.

Marco and Quartz were feeling the same way, albeit for different reasons. With Quartz only holding on by a wand, and Marco only holding on by a Quartz, the two screamed in panic as they both tried their hardest to hold on for dear life. There was no time to enjoy any thrill or fun that this could've produced, for the scary ambiance made everything feel all the more worse.

It was proving to become more and more difficult to continue on, as proven by the sweat and glowing of the little prince. Little did he realize again that his eyes and cheek marks were illuminating his face. They only glowed brighter and brighter the harder it became to hold on. Star seemed to have no intention of slowing down or stopping, as her face of struggle clearly showed.

Bumping and crashing aside, Quartz and Marco had no intention either, as the red hooded teen was given a stroke of luck once his feet hit the ground. It was only able to slow down Star by only a peg, but it was a step in the right direction. As he skied through the halls, the sight of Janna( who had small scrapes on her arms now, most likely from her attempt at stealing the book back from the little kid) feeding Glosseryck caught his eye, somehow appearing even more relaxed and disinterested in what was going on. "You're only making things worse!" He yelled out, before allowing Janna to feed him another spoonful of the gooey dessert

The blue man's apathy noted, Marco took those words in consideration, as a pit of worry hit his stomach hard like a a-bomb. Looking at the mess and panic all around him, the vines, the various number of boy that were still stuck in there little prisons, he wondered exactly what they've done to make things better.

None. Almost at every turn, nothing was getting better. In fact, things had only gotten worse. They tried to take her home, they tried to locked Star in a locker, tried to restrain her once again with her own magic, and all they've done was make things worse.

"Quartz!" Marco yelled, making the boy turn his head a much as he could.

"Yes." He answered a little sternly, the glowing on his face becoming so bright that it practically blinded Marco, almost disorienting him enough to make him let go.

"We-we, we, we have to let go!" He said with some reservations about the idea himself. "We have to let her go!"

"What?!" The boy understandably yelled, confused and angry at what his sister's 'best friend' had insisted upon. "Are you nuts?!"

"It's, It's just like Glossaryck said! The more we fight against it, the more it fights back!" He loosened his own grip on the boy, showing that he was indeed saying that this was an option to consider. He nudged on the boy's leg a little, instructing him to do the same. Instead, Marco got a foot to the face for his efforts as Quartz immediately fought the idea.

"But, but, she, I, can't, I can't let her go!" He shouted as the glow from his eyes became even brighter. "I never want to let her go!"

Right then and there, Quartz finally noticed the glow on his own face. He looked at his arms, his pink-turned skin, the sharp claws that had grown longer. Taking a long gaze back at his sister, he didn't really see much of her at all. Not the same sibling that he had known for the past 9 years, not the fun loving, adventuring heroine that he saw her as.

What he saw was something else. Another creature, not a monster, but different, almost like an animal. It could still feel pain, it could still feel scared, and confused, and frightened. That's what the Prince felt off her.

He wanted his sister back. He wanted to have her back to normal. He wanted to give back the wand and tell her how amazing it was to hold on to it.

But if all their efforts were doing nothing but causing her grief, than he didn't want to do any of it.

Looking back at the teen's sadden face, he could tell that Marco was thinking the same thing. The silence spoke for itself, as it was painfully obvious what they had to do next. Not taking anymore time to possible rethink the plan, Quartz pulled forward on the candied cable, lifting up his left hand, and slicing the lasso in one mighty slash. The boys skidded across the floors of the school, the air becoming slower and thicker as they could feel just how much longer the next few seconds felt.

Finally free from the weights dragging her down, the Butterfly creature shot forwards towards her next target, who still, after all this time, had yet to noticed anything beyond the parking space of the school lot. With no hesitation, she shoot her webs on all four corners of the car, and began to fly up to the sky, with no regret or shame for any of her actions.

Accept, a certain, watery feeling came to her eyes. It felt shallow, empty, like something was missing, and no attempt to get it back worked. Looking back down, she spotted the two figures that attempted to stop her raid. By all accounts, the creature assumed, she had no reason to pay them any more attention.

But the smaller one of the two caught her eye the most. Both of the figures had saddened expressions on their face. The older one of them seemed more accepting, as if he did the right thing by doing something bad. But his face had a tinge of acceptance on it. He would try to move on.

But the smaller one seemed to have a little more trouble in that regard. He dared not to look up as small droplets of water fell from his face. His sadness made clear and prevalent all around him. He looked like he was going to yell at any moment, lash out at the nearest living thing and take out any anger on it.

He stayed still. For all the pain he was feeling, the smaller one held on to the pain inside him, not wanting to let it be felt by anyone else. But the creature did feel it, the pain, the piercing, blood curdling pain that could be felt by a sword to a stomach. Any movement, any attempt to alieve it would only prove to make it worse.

Still holding on to the same blank expression it held, the Butterfly let go of the car that it was holding, making it land with a huge crash(though Osksar still barely noticed what just happened), allowing it to lift one of it's arms to wipe its eyes. Still wet, and no sign of stopping.

Marco wanted to say something. He wanted to say that it was all for the best. He wanted to say to the little boy that everything was going to work out in the end. He couldn't. He himself hated the decision, he had no right to attempt to alive the boy's pain. All he could was sit down beside him and mope away the sorrow. "Goodbye Star." Those were words he couldn't wait to say on the first day they met, but now it was the last thing he ever wanted to say. His expression changes however when the sound of heavy fluttering enter in, making the tips of Marco's from lift slightly upwards.

Soon a shadowy presence loomed over the prince. Quartz, not looking up, just assumed it was a cloud or Marco casting their shadow over him. He didn't mind, because darkness was now his only comfort, it was the one thing he knew would be there. Nothing to light up his day. No reason for him to shine like a star.

The feeling of arms covered him whole. "Stop it." He said quietly, not knowing who it was that was covering him. The grasp only got a little more firm as it leaned forward. "Stop." He asked again. Another set of arms wrapped around him, even tighter and more comforting. "What did I.." He immediately stopped once he saw who it was.

Right there in all her purple, multi-armed glory, was the transformed Butterfly, lifting her brother up almost instinctually. Her face still held the same blank slate it held since the beginning, but a sliver of caring emotion seeped out of her as she cradle the little prince in her arms like a baby, as she did so many times in the past, a once again flew off, not even going back to her previous prey.

Back with Glossaryck, he stared up at his watch, which beeped as it reached 3:57. "And now.."

Almost instantly, the glow in the girl's eyes began to dim, as did her brothers. Hearts began to shed off her skin like a snake, one by one, making the high-flyer begin to descend back down to the earth, until the wings on her back dissolved altogether, making both of the royal fall with a hard thump into the pile of webs and hearts that Star had made earlier, making it boom like a mini mushroom cloud.

Not sure what to make of what had just transpired, Marco walked over towards the pile, as the dust cleared. A purple smoke like steam arose from where the two had crashed. Dizzy, the first to emerge was Star, who's appearance was normal again, no glowing heart eyes, no purple skin or hair, or extra arms, just the same, crazy Star that Marco had gotten to know. Wasting no more time, Marco quickly rushed to his friend and gave her a big hug, to which she gratefully accepted and returned. "Wait, where's Quartz?" Marco asked with slight concern, making Star's eye's widen with worry as well.

It didn't last long though. Almost as soon as they looked down, a dizzy, but also normal Quartz arose from the hearts, the pink of his skin gone and his hair gone back to normal. With a daze, he leaned towards his sister with a wide smile. "You came back for me."

"Always." She responded, kneeling down to his level and placing a hand on his shoulder. Nothing else needed to be said.

Of course, Marco interrupts, noticing something a little something sticking out of Star's hair. "What's that?"

"Huh?" Reaching an arm out and feeling the things behind her, Star felt small but stiff tuffs of thin, paper like skin that stuck out of her body. It only took a moment to realize what it was. "AHHHHHHHHHAHAA!" She squealed in delight. "I got my Mewberty wings!"

"Ah, Star, I think I had enough flying for today." He chuckled a little nervously. "You should probably put a pin in thaaa.." Star tuned out his talking as she took a big leap, flapping her wings like a humming bird, ready to soar through the sky, and fell with a big flop.

Both teens grunted in disappointment as Quartz chuckled, floating above their heads. "I think you'll have to wait a while longer to join me in that."

* * *

With most of the day's chaos being played out already, the kid's agreed to just sit outside the school, trying to take a moment to finally breathe the air a little more easily. Connie eventually joined the group again once Quartz realized she never actually got off the roof. "So, do you remember exactly what happened?" Connie asked, finally feeling that know was the right time.

"Not really. It was all a blur, and a swarm of confusing emotions to be honest." Star cleared up. "It was like craving bacon after eating it for the first time, it's the only thing that you want to have."

"Knew it." Quartz whispered, making Connie chuckle a little. "I can understand the Butterfly thing with you, but what was it that I was turning to? It felt a bit, familiar for some reason."

"I think the better question is how you got your mind back on track before Star." Marco joins in on the questions himself, before turning his attention towards Connie. "Didn't you do something about that?"

"Ahhh.." Connie blushed, who had counted on no one to bring up what happened. She could still remember it vividly in her head, and how good it felt. This only caused the heat in her cheeks to rise. Fortunately, a loud honk erupted from the front of them, making the girl sigh in relief. "Saved by the bell.., I mean, sorry, I got, I got to go!" She said it a little to loudly, running to the car without saying another word, leaving the remaining three a bit confused.

"Weirdo." Star blatantly states, getting up and turning to her brother. "Speaking of which, don't you want to come back to the house with us? We can practice to see if we can get these wings to work."

"Nah, I really got to get back home now. I got to explain to mom and dad about what happened this morning." He said before whistling out, calling forth his mighty stead. "Oh, I almost forgot." From behind his back, he grabbed the wand(as confusing and misleading as the name was now) and handed back to it's rightful owner. "Thanks for trusting me with it."

"Hm, it suits you." Star chuckled as she held it. In a bright flash, it returned to the way it was before, as if it never changed.

"It does, but I believe it's better on you." He said one final time before a bright pink portal appeared, along side it's furry and fluffy source. Waving one final time, he leaps into the portal, and it flashes itself away.

This day was truly more than the boy had expected, and he really needed all the rest that he could get. Greeting his parents the moment he reached the other side, he smiled, knowing that they could always be counted on for a slow, quiet night that..

"Quartz, my boy, I know exactly what you've been through." His father abruptly announced as he wrapped his arm around the boy's head. "I know that your feelings are very confusing, and distracting, and that every moment you feel them you have the urge to rip apart and destroy anything that gets in your way, but it's all apart of growing up.

Why did he feel like he spoke too soon?

* * *

 _Here are the next three chapters ahead. Vote on what you want next:_

 _ponyhead first meeting with baby quartz_

 _lobster claws_

 _or quartz hanging out with Tom_


	10. Chapter 10

**Haha, finally came out with my tenth chapter, and since most of you voted for it, we're here! Ponyhead's first meeting with a baby quartz. It was really fun to come up with this one, so enjoy.**

 **By the way, one of my earliest reviews suggested a monstar/yd mom au, and I have an idea of a short chapter of such a situation. Just let me know, should I post it here or place it in my Steven Multiverse anthology fic?**

 **I own nothing**

 **A/N: Okay, I fix a few spelling errors, hopefully I got most of them, but I've added this note to talk about what many people have been talking about for the longest time on many of my reviews: A single pale rose.**

 **I've watched this, I've loved it, and I truly think it was the best direction the show could've gone. As for how they fit into my fics, they really don't change anything that I had plan. If anything, they fit perfectly for what I have planned for later on,** **Gift of the Diamond especially because of the main relationship I'm going for in there.**

 **As for this story, it really helps finalize how I'm going to write Rose's relationship with Eclipsa, both shifty and secretive, and very shady. So yeah, be on the look out for that when it comes.**

* * *

"Alright, peoples. I'm leaving already!" The eldest princess of the cloud kingdom announced out loud to really no one in particular, to which only a handful of voices responded to. Not to say that she was ignored throughout the household, quite the opposite actually, by being the oldest, and the one to inherit the throne, but there was only soo much attention to expect from a household that never seemed to stop growing.

That was sort of the problem. As the oldest, she seemed to be the one that everyone turned to whenever something big happened. Whenever troubled stirred up, whenever something seemed to go awry, all the attention seemed to be on her. She always seemed to be in the spotlight, and not the fun 'take over the dance floor' kind.

The ones to do this the most were of course the little nightmares that she had for sisters. They seemed to follow her everywhere, her every move, watching every breath she took. They had those big beady, sole stealing eyes that practically rubbed against the little of the body had since they were so close.

They reeked of trouble and mischif, and she should know, she's the one that set that standard of mischief for them. But instead of being thanked for all of her troubles, she instead had to deal with all the pains of being the 'responsible one', with no reward except the increase in paranoia whenever she fell asleep. She still made sure to keep one eye open after they ambushed her. She could still feel the burns all over.

Everything was everyone's, yet almost nothing was hers alone to have in that house.

Which was why she was looking forward to her sleepover with Star tonight. A moment of time that was hers and hers alone, her time, her friend, and her fun. That was something no one could ever take away from her. With Star's never ending energy, and her own ability to never let the party die, she was prepared to have the best time ever.

She hadn't been at the Butterfly castle for was while, and as shameful as it was(not that she spent to much time being racked with guilt about it), she really didn't know why that was. She over heard her father saying something about a month ago, but to be fair, she was working on something very important when he did...

* * *

 _'Blah blah blah Butterfly famly, blah blah, blah new blah blah blah blah tred...' The word's of King Ponyhead announced as he spoke with a thundering volume to his oldest daughter. The pale blue unicorn had her star shaped pupils focused on something she was writing down in. Occasionally in the book, the word's 'hellspawn' and 'revenge' would pop up whenever she wrote down something in relation to her sisters. 'Blah blah blah star growing blah blah blah new addition blah blah blah accident blah blah blah adjust so stay blah blah, away."_

 _"Uh huh, yeah, I totally get it." She apathically replied. "B-fly's growing up and going through painful gross junk. I'll stay away." She hardly paid attention to the words that came out of her mouth as her mouth practically ran on auto pilot. At the moment she was way too busy drawing a picture of a cage, though whether or not she would choose to put herself or her sisters in it had yet to be decided._

* * *

Truth be told, she never did complete her plan, as she ended up binging out one of her favorite show on the couch with a weeks worth of pizza just right beside her. It didn't prove to be worth it, as the latest addition to the cast ended up being one of the most annoying and useless things alive.

That was enough work for her. Now was the time to stop hogging all the fun for herself, and share it with probably the only person she could ever relate on a personal level. The only one that never had any judgments, and also the only one that could handle extreme, hard core real fun like her self.

Taking the pair of dimensional scissors she 'borrowed' from her father(like all the other times before) the Princess floated away from her ever growing family as she hummed happily. Popping right outside the castle by Star's room, she effortless flew through the window as she planned to surprise her best friend. Nothing was going to distract her from this moment, absolutely nothing.

"Sta.."

Except for the sight of what appeared to be a baby starring up at her for no reason other than the fact that a giant horse head had just burst in randomly. Of course, the only reaction the youngling was curiosity and wonder rather than fear and screaming.

"Staaa.." The baby boy kept cooing out loud, wanting to share this wonderful new sight with the best person that her knew. His tiny flabby arms reached up in the sky, as if in an attempt to grab the horse head himself.

The young Ponyhead of course, was less than amused at this sight, her previous joy and excitement now being replaced by confusion and irritation. "Okay, like who left this baby here? Like seriously, he's going to stink up everything." she complained, floating closer to the baby as if to inspect it more. She instantly regretted it as she leaned her nose in a little too close, and the boy grabbed her by the snout, placing his tiny fingers in her nostrils.

This was an incredibly uncomfortable and painful experience, and as such, she flailed the baby around in an attempt to shake him off. "No, no, no, this is not a pony ride!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, getting more mad by the minute. "This is not a pony ride!" The baby continued to laugh off her increasing anger as he squealed in delight.

Spinning constantly around and around like a merry-go-round on hyper-speed, and only thinking of getting the little on off her nose, she had no real idea on what she was doing at the current moment as she span faster and faster, having no intentions of stopping until the little brat was off, until at least...

"Hey Pony..." Star suddenly burst in without warning(and considering that it was her room, it's not like she had any reason not to). Now taking in the surprise and shock, the dizzy princess came to an immediate stop to register what had just happened, finally getting the baby off with the sudden jerk, slinging the boy right into the arms of the eldest Butterfly, laughing as she held him high with her back on the ground, oblivious to the danger he was just put through. "Silly magic baby, you were trying to fly again?" Star cooed, bringing the boy close, touching noses. "You can't fly. No you can't, no you can't."

Still dizzy, and rightfully confused on what was happening right now, the twirling, magical horse head leaned in closer to her best friend, trying to ignore the little pain as much as she could. "Hey, bestie, my main girl, how's you feeling, what are we doing tonight, and what's with the smell monster being in the room and why are we not chucking it out the door?" Ponyhead said with very little tact or kindness in her voice, still feeling a light sting on her nose.

"We can't do anything tonight without this adorable little guy, right magic baby? Right, right?" She asked in a babyish tone, getting the boy to giggle as she wanted to. "He's my new baby brother, Quartz Universe Butterfly."

It was in that moment, for the very first time in her life, where Ponyhead had to truly use the brain she was born with. The gears that held her mind together practically had dust on them as she began to turn them. It wasn't often that she had to think so hard on something, or think at all for that matter since life was practically handed to her on a silver platter, but this was an exception. In one moment, she was tempted to let this sentence pass through her ears like she did every other sentence, but something about this just stuck.

Star, her best friend in all the universe, had a baby brother.

A baby brother.

Baby brother.

Brother.

Brother

Brother

"Your my special baby brother, aren't you, aren't you?" Star continued to feed the infant all the attention that she could mustar, providing seemingly endless joy for the prince.

Writing off the sweet little moment happening before her, the cloud princess floated herself between the two royal siblings, making sure to create as much space as possible. "Hey, I'm here, again, hello." She reintroduced herself irritably. "So I thought that this would be a fun night, an awesome night, a totally spectacular anti-no-good-devil-pawn-sibling-free night." She made sure to get her point across. "So dump that baby and let lose, like, right now."

"Sorry Ponyhead." Star smiled as she scratched the back of her head. "I found this little guy not too long ago, and he's really been the greatest thing ever that I've ever come across." The princess said quite seriously, making sure to look Ponyhead straight in the eye when she did. "I spend every moment I can with him, playing all the same games, talking the same conversations, eating all the same foods." Her face becomes a little creepy when she stares dead into pony's eyes again, widening them to decrease her chances of blinking. "I watch him all day, every day, even when he _sleeps!"_

 _'What's this kid doing to her?'_ The floating head inwardly screamed, unknowingly backing away slightly. "Ah, that's great, and a little frightening to hear, Star, but, uh, isn't that more of your folk's job to handle? Shouldn't they be the one to watch the little stinker?"

"I guess, but I was the one who brought him into the family." Star argued. "Therefore, I definitely have the right to watch over him and call him my own child whenever I feel like it. Besides, Mom told me to keep him close to by me today, something about 'an influence that would be bad for him at such a young age to experience', whatever the corn that means."

* * *

"I wanna see the baby!"

"No"

"I wanna see the baby!"

"No!"

"I wanna see the baby!" The crystal headed member of the commission kept shouting, not showing any sign of relenting his demand to the Queen of Mewni. "My gut says there's something suspicious about it, so I need to see if it's evil!"

"You are not going anywhere near my son!" Moon raised her voice, encasing Rombulus in her wand's magic, causing him to freeze in place. "He's a baby, the most harmless thing anything could be." He expression intensifies as she gets closer to him, making the snake handed man shake in fear. "I wont have him caged and put under observation for merely existing."

Despite the man's apparent fear, the Queens threat didn't seem to sink in deep enough. "It's not like we haven't done it before." The next thing the crystal head knew, his entire body was slammed against the nearest wall.

"Let me make this clear." Moon griped, increasing her hold on the man with every breathe see made. Rombulus's body was under so much pressure that his head looked like it was going to pop right off it's body. "We are going to stay here, until you get it through your head that my son is off limits to you and the rest of the commission, got it!?"

This was going to be a long night for him.

* * *

"So he's going to be with us the entire day?" Ponyhead groaned, knowing there was no way that she could change Star's mind about this. "This was suppose to be our girl's night, you know, for girls. Won't having a baby ruin the vibe, just a little, considering he's also, the opposite of what we are?"

"Of course not! He's an awesome magic baby!" Star argued as she picked up her brother again, who had a face full of smiles and drool, shoving him near her friend's long, disappointed face. "He's a young mind, a teachable brain. We can show him how to really have fun, that way all three of us can have fun with each other forever!" The baby 'gahed' as if in agreement, making Ponyhead feel all the more defeated in the situation.

"All right, all right! I'll give the little stinker a chance." She relented, not wanting to get on her bestie's bad side, especially after not seeing her in a while. This was not going to be the end of their friendship if she anything to say about it.

As she was trying to figure out how to outsmart this devious, conniving, evil little troll, Star brought all three of them together in a giant group hug, oblivious to her friend's increasing anger, and more on the baby's constant enjoyment of being hugged. "Aww, he already likes you."

Devious little monster indeed.

* * *

Like many parties and sleepovers before, the two princesses knew exactly how to get it started just right, and were eager to start off this amazing night as cautiously and smoothly as possible.

That was at least the excuse Ponyhead gave her father today, and every other time he had warned her about going overboard with, well, pretty much anything she did, playing, partying, camping, heck, she even somehow found a way to make sleeping more dangerous one time. Her father had to watch her on the mirror when she went to bed for a month after that.

The point was, Pony knew how she liked her parties, and Star knew as well. Same mind, same wavelength, practically the same brain. She knew her girl would never let her down.

That hadn't really been the case for this time, as it seemed like the princess of Mewni, the only girl in the universe that could ever match her level of crazy, was on an entirely different dimension this time around. Her attention pan was even shorter than normal, and worse part about it, none of it seemed to be on her or herself.

It all pointed to the little buzzkill that was made to ruin everything.

No joke, that's pretty much how the entire night went for them. For instance, a pile of junk food and sweets and anything else that would pretty much give them cavities just by looking at them. Of course, aside from the downside that they had to, according to Star's insistence, split it evenly between all of them, decreasing her already high levels of blood sugar and hopes of ignoring the little pest, he didn't even eat any of it. Star dumped him in his own personal pile of sugar goo, and he just rolled around in it like a pig in mud.

Stains and stickiness covered the entire baby quickly, and to add on top of this annoyance, Star herself joined in, adding in her own pile of sweetness to the mix as she rolled around in the mess. When Pony asked why the heck would she waste everything, she responded with:

"Because he's the sweetest thing I could ever have!"

That line was so nauseatingly sweet in by itself that it ruined Pony's appetite for anything else, not that it matter, considering they already added her pile to the sugar mess by that point.

It was going on like this for a while. Try to set off fireworks they worked all year at 'earning', nope, they had to focus on making stupid faces in order to get the baby to laugh. Makeovers? Nope, just have the baby trip over the entire set and have an impromptu make-up fight, which actually would've been fine, if they didn't use the brand new set that she was actually trying to use. She couldn't even have something as simple as a pillow fight without the baby ruining things. "You'll scar him for life if he get's hit too hard." Star complained. "You need to calm down and take it easy on him."

That was the last thing she ever want for that baby.

Despite all the set backs that she was experiencing today, she was not ready to give up on her friend just yet. Ponyhead then raised her voice, grabbing a huge mattress from who knows where. "I've already covered the stares with butter, cream corn, and that weird stuff my dad covers on his fur whenever he wakes up in the morning." She explained, already ready to go, waiting on her best friend to join in at any moment. "Come on!" She excited shouted, only too frown at what she was seeing.

Star's attention was still on that little bugger that had no right to be here. Off about four feet away from her, the Mewman Princess gathered an abundance of string, tapes, and pillows from all over the castle as she slowly and carefully covered the baby in it. "Come on, just a few more layers and you'll be the softest, cutest baby in the universe, won't you, won't you?" She rhetorically asked, only getting a small but happy grunt from the little tyke.

"Ah, what is this? What is this thing that you're doing right now that's kinda killing the fun I want to have?" Ponyhead said quickly and angrily, not enjoying the slow start they where having.

"Well, I want him to have the greatest time ever with us!" Star shouted. "And to make sure that he has the best time ever, I need to make sure that nothing bad or harmful ever happens to him. No oowies, no boo-boos, not on my watch." She spoke proudly.

"Did, are you talking, about, responsibility?" Pony said out loud in fear, mostly to herself. Out of everything they have ever done, that was always the last thing on there minds. That vile word, the one that always held you back and restricted you at every chance it had. The word that drained out all the fun and joy in a kid's life and replaced it with dull adult stuff that made them miserable. No one should have to bear that. "Star I.."

Once again, the cloud princesses worries went unnoticed as she placed the baby at the front of the bedding, holding on to him tight as she encased him in her arms and legs. "Are we ready, are we all ready to ride?" She asked the baby boy, who let out a wide smile in return, feeling loved and safe in his big sis's embrace. "Okay Ponyhead, be ready to push!"

 _'At least she still wants to do awesome stuff.'_ Ponyhead told herself as she prepared to get everything started. The baby thing was still bumming her out a little, but at least she could still enjoy this moment. "All right, hold on to your garments, because I'm about to yank them.." She shouted as she launched herself at full speed.

"Wait!" Star immediately yelled, making the floating pony stumble in an attempt to stop, causing her to crash right at the edge of the bedding. "I, ah, maybe you should, go slow on this. I don't want him to go flying across the hall now."

"Okay, whatever you say bestie." Ponyhead grinded her teeth as she got up, making sure to put up the best 'happy' face that she could. She slowly nudged the bed this time around, allowing her to take in how much fun they would be having by now if they just left the little stinker in the room.

"But maybe you should do it a little faster." The groans of complaining were practically instant. "I still want him to have fun. Maybe you should put a little 'ump' in it."

It was getting really hard now to ignore the anger growing towards her friend. It was easily replaced with the knowledge that the source of all of it was resting in Star's lap, practically mocking her with that stupid smile of his.

Pony was readying her position once more. "But try to take it easy as well." Star added on, further making the Pony grunt in irritation. "But as enjoyably fun as awesome as you can make it."

"Hard to do when you keep stopping me!" Pony finally let out, waiting for no more replies or further stops as she pushed the bed with as much force as she could summon. Within no time at all, Star and Quartz sped down the stairs with blazing speed, practically slipping through the stars as if they were made from ice. It only took Ponyhead a minute to realize in all her anger that she forgotten to jump on at the last minute. With that realization, she took the next few seconds to bang her head on the floor.

And, unlike how it began, the ride was fierce, fast, and quick, being done as almost the speed of a blink. At the base of the stairs the bed laid, being flipped over by the sudden stop it made. About ten feet away, straight across from it, the Princess was slammed back first into the brick wall. Bit's of what appeared to be a crack formed at the side of them. The baby seemed fine for the most part, though it seemed a little uneased by the sudden slamming noise, and his protecter's sudden silence.

"Okay, the brat's got his turn, now lets move on already." Ponyhead still moaned as she floated right above them. Of course, paid little heed to the two down below as she tried to move on as fast as possible. It wasn't until she realized the unnatural silence that she noticed the two, more specifically Star, didn't move an inch from their spot. "Ah, I said we should move now, like, now, now." She spoke will the same urgency, but with a little more worry this time. She knew nothing stopped Star from moving, talking, or being excited, so this was a little scary for her to say the least. "Ah, you alright? You didn't get, hurt or anything, right?"

"No, no, he's fine, he's just fine." Star grunted as she peeled herself off from the wall. Neither her or the adopted sibling were smiling right now, which stated to make the floating head all the more uncomfortable. "We're all just fine." Star forced out, making it clear by her voice she didn't mean it. She gently placed the baby down as she rubbed her left elbow a bit, which started to form a faint but pretty big purple marking that ran across her arm.

"Star, I, I didn't, are, are you sure that, I, I Didn't.." Ponyhead quickly started to stammer out, knowing that she not fine at all. It only appeared to be a bruise, but harming her bestie in anyway was the last thing she ever wanted to do.

"Just be careful, okay." Star said a bit irritably, shifting her eyes to the ground, once again spotting the baby, which at this point started to stare at the giant marking on her arm. "He could've been hurt."

"Okay, can you please take your mind off the stupid baby for a second! Your hurt, be worried about yourself!" She blurted out without thinking, not that she really started to do that to begin with.

What came next was probably one of the angriest faces that Ponyhead ever seen. A deep, long scowl was plastered along the face of her friend. She was pretty use to people being mad at her, mostly at home and it usually died down pretty quickly once it started, mainly do to her own obliviousness. She had no such luxury know, as being around her friend meant she had to pay attention, or risk losing her.

Star was mad, more so, she was feeling pretty livid. "Stop calling my brother stupid, and stinky, and dumb, and whatever mean insult you keep saying to him!" Pony's eyes widen, hoping that she had ignored all those insults she had been throwing out all day. "All I've done is show you how amazing he is, and all you've been doing is trying to hurt him!"

"Hey, first, I've only wanted to get rid of him, nothing more." Ponyhead defended herself. "And second, the only thing amazing about him is how increasingly annoying he's becoming to me! He ruined my food, my makeup, my fun, and he keeps trying to ride me!" The baby had somehow made his way over to her and reached for her flying body. "See? I only wanted to party with my bestie, and ONLY my bestie! I definetly did not ask for another little stink in my life to mess it all up!"

Star face lit up in a fiery rage. He face became so red that it look like any moment now it was going to pop like a giant pimple. "Aghhhh!" She let out many frustrated screams while trying to contain her anger. She kept point and waving anywhere, both scaring and confusing the princess of the cloud kingdom. She would look like she would say one thing at one moment, but then continued to close her mouth as hard as she could.

Finally unable to handle all the heat and blood rushing to her head, she let out a loud huff and stomped away to her room, slamming the door behind without turning back at her friend. "Fine, be that way! You've become too boring to hang out around anyway!" She shouted her half-hearted insult across the empty hall, leaving only her and the little bugger the only ones to listen.

Left with no option to go anywhere, and definitely not wanting to go back home to even more terrors, she elected to sit at the base of the stair way, dropping herself as she moped and simply stared downward, wallowing in her own pity.

"Why? Why did you need to change like this?" She quietly murmured to herself. Part of the fun that came with hanging out of the Star was that she was an only child. She didn't have someone to need to act differently around or do something for. She didn't know what it was like to be a sister, which actually made her the perfect friend. For once, she could tell, she could show someone what she wanted, when she wanted. She could share stuff with someone she actually wanted to be around.

It was like she could actually chose to have a sister for a change.

Of course, now everything was ruined, thanks to the one thing that she didn't ever expect Star to have. Said thing right at this moment had just climbed on top of her neck/back and began to gently pet her. He wasn't particularly heavy for a chubby baby, but the added weight on top of her still bugged her all the same.

"Get off me." Ponyhead gripped in a half angry, half careless moan as she tried her best to ignore him. The baby just made more inaudible noises from his moist, soft mouth as he feel completely on her face first. "Off." Pony spoke again, sounding even more careless than the last time. The baby, not getting the hint at what she was trying to say, struggled to maintain his balanced as a few droplets of wetness feel from his lips and landed right on her hair.

"I said to get!" She shouted, barely any louder than before, leaning to her left as she made forced the baby to roll off her. The baby only chuckled in response as he continued to roll on the floor. "Star, you left the drool machine over here!" As expected, there was no response to her probably now former bestie. The boy only continued to star at the flying head like he expected her to do something. "Guess I got to roll you to her." She sighed inwardly as she used he long snout to roll the little down the hall, which only led to more laughs and smiles.

Pony had to admit, this was a little fun to do. She would've preferred if she was allowed, or capable of, to do something a little more, forceful, to the little tyke, but this seemed to be the best choice so far, not wanting any more beef to come up between her and Star. Besides, the baby seemed to enjoy it, so there was very little harm in doing it.

It was a little too fun though, as by the time they reached Star's room, Pony had begun enjoying it a little too much. The had went far past it and actually begun rolling wherever she wanted to. Something about rolling this little baby around was really addicting.

"Guess you have a good use after all." She quietly complimented. Of course, she was quick to change her tone, not wanting to admit she was wrong, and did so by giving the baby another hard push.

Through this next move, it allowed for about to of the buttons on the baby's onesie to come undone, making something shiny and pink stick right out of the baby's belly. It almost went unnoticed by the horse head, which was weird considering it took up about a forth of his stomach, but it immediately took her attention once she caught a glimpse of the glimmering rock.

"Belly jewel." She spoke as she forward in curiosity. "Mind if I have it?" She immediately said after, looking to the baby as if he could answer her. The only response was a small gurgle. "I don't think that was a no." She got closer and tried to grab it, only for the baby to swat her away, though because it was with a flabby weak arm, it hardly did anything to keep her away.

"How deep in there is this rock?" She quietly asked herself, realizing that she wouldn't be able to simply take it off. So she pointed her horn right at the belly to see if she cold somehow lift it off of him. Slowly, she closed it in on the pink crystal, only making contact by the slightest inch..

shing

...before finding herself trapped in a huge pink ball with the baby prince himself.

"Hey, hey, hey!" She immediately shouted, knowing exactly who to blame. "Did you do this!? Are you trying to trap me in here?" The baby, of course, gives no answer that she could understand. "Fine, play it like that. No prison or cage has ever been able to contain the awesomeness that is m.." She pronounced loud and proudly, charging at the bubble's surface with full force.

And since there was nothing to keep the giant bubble grounded, nothing keeping it from rolling, and practically no traction on it or the floor, it moved at a fairly face pace. Not expecting failure, Ponyhead found herself face first, slammed into the curved wall, rolling along side it as it moved with no control.

And of course, being the only other occupant in the magical ball of bright pink, the little royal found himself cheering Pony's choice of actions, as the roll lifted him up in the air, where he ended up slamming right on top of the horse head once more. "I wasn't ready!" She excused herself, flying in the air once more to get the bubble to pop. So the little stink had magic that trapped her, big deal. She wasn't going to let him take away her moment of upstaging him in power.

The baby latched on to her again, this time grabbing her by the thick base of her horn. Ponyhead chose to ignore what he was doing, and charged at the bubble with even more force and anger fueling her strength.

It once again failed to do anything but slam into a wall, and caused them to end up on the ground with the baby sitting on top of her.

"You're having a laugh with this, aren't you?" The baby only smiled on in return. "Okay, so your a little more clever than me in this particular moment, and I may be seeing what Star says about you being awesome and magical." She let out quickly, not taking a moment to stop and breathe. "But I'm more awesomer.." She stayed in her current position this time, though she lifted up her head slightly and raised her horn. "..and I'm magical! So in your bubblely face!" She blasted a bright beam of purple from her sharp appendage.

Instead of a loud pop and a possible boom that she was expecting to happen after this incredible and amazing display of power she managed to pull of, she found herself, the baby, and the bubble, hurled backwards and impressed into the wall as if they were apart of it. "Huh, okay, this things a little stronger than I thought." Leaning forward, she press all her weight to pull the bubble off the wall, able to admire her latest piece of 'work'. "And a lot more smashy than I thought." She turns to the smiling baby, somehow becoming even happier than before. "You actually found that fun?" The baby laughed on. "Okay, how about we keep this up until this thing breaks. Then I can go back to hating you, alright?" A gurgled response was all that their was. "I don't thing that was a no."

* * *

After slamming on the door, the only thing Star could even think about doing was screaming at the top of her lungs, so she did just that, just after she jumped onto her bed and implanted her entire face within a pillow for about 6 minutes. After that she just faced up at the celling as she gave out the occasion frustrated groan and loud sigh.

She couldn't believe Ponyhead, her very best friend, the one she did fun and awesome with, would ever try to hurt her brother. Quartz was the sweetest and most huggable thing in her life! Nothing about him was stinky, or annoying, or stupid, or pesty, and whatever insult there was left to say. Couldn't she see that he was her blood!( she thought at least. She still wasn't entirely clear on the whole 'adoption' thing yet.) Someone that was precious and sacred and needed her attention at every moment of everyday? If she had been there in the beginning, maybe she would understand what she meant. Heck, Ponyhead herself had tons of sisters way before she found Quartz, so she should have known what she was feeling.

"She just needs to see how amazing you can be, than you can finally show her what I see in you, right magic baby?" She smiled as she turned to expect her brother to be half listening, half asleep by now. Only to find empty space where she always put Quartz whenever she took him out of his crib so they could sleep at night with each other.

"Magic baby?" She said worriedly as she begun digging through her blankets and sheets and whatever else she could find to look for her brother. Nothing. He wasn't behind her toy chest, he wasn't in her closet. She began to panic. She hardly ever let go of him, let alone let him out of her sight. Nothing could have caused her to let him go, not a monster, not extra dessert, not even her best..

She slapped herself in the head once she realized what she had done. This day was really starting to shape up to be her worst sleepover ever when it should've been the best.

She slightly hesitated going towards the door. On one hand, she would most likely be saving her brother and be treated to the most cutest face she had seen. On the other, it would mean she had to look at Ponyhead, which meant they had to confront one another, and this type of thing hardly ever happened between them, so it would be very, very awkward for the both of them.

 _ **BANG CLASH CLASH BANG CLASH CLASH BANG CLASH CLASH BANG**_

"I'm coming magic baby!" She shouted immediately. Screw the awkwardness, her brother needed her! Bursting a the door like a mad ram, she charged out at full speed not stopping at the sight of what appeared to be deep cracks and craters in the walls and floors. She did not stop to look at all the fallen weapons and decorations that where once on the ceiling. And she definitely didn't stop at the sight of pony head, who could only turn around at the moment Star about to collide with her, stuck in a familiar looking orb with her little brother clinging on to her like he was having the time of his life.

"Wait I.." Star acknowledged too late as she smacked into her brother's bubble, once again, making it roll, leaving the two occupants inside without any control over it. It rolled and rolled, smacking and smashing everything like a pin ball machine until they reached the stair, causing them to fall downward.

"I, I, I didn't, Quartz, Pony, I.." Star started to saw, realizing exactly what she don't when the sound of a familiar crash came up once the trapped duo hit the bottom. She rushed downstairs the second after, hoping the two were safer than she was when she went down it.

For the most part, they seemed to be fine. The bubble was still intact, and the two were laying on the floor, though how they were was a little hard to tell. "Pony, Quartz, are, are you okay in there, are, are.." She tried to say, fearing for the worse.

"That, that.." Pony started to say in an unusually quiet voice. "THAT WAS AWESOME!" Pony shouted floating in the air, though this time she seemed to be willingly carrying the little prince. "That was the ride I was waiting for all day! Thanks B-fly."

"Uh, thanks." Star, despite being confused by this, still accepted it. "Are, are you guys okay?"

"Of course we are, thanks to the little stinker's bubble ball thing." She gently set the boy down as she explained. "When I could get out of this thing, I decided to just 'roll' with it. Get it, it's a pun, I'm being funny now." Silence was the only reaction. "Never appreciated. Anyway, you didn't tell me this guy was soo destructive. I definitely wouldn't have insulted him this much if I knew about that."

"Well, he's only really done it once before, so I didn't think.." She trailed off, more focused on how much of Pony's tone had changed. "You like him now?" The Mewman Princess asked hopefully.

"Well, he's a little far off from what I usually accept as a friend.." She smugly said as she looked down at the drooling boy. "But I think that's a safe thing to say."

"Aww, Quartz, you made her your friend all on your own!" She pressed against the bubble, trying to reach out for him. "Oh, if only I could hug you right now!"

 _'POP'_

Star's wish was immediately granted as seen by her falling forward right on her face. Not caring for that brief moment of pain, she grabbed her brother and held him tightly, as if she couldn't go another second without hugging him. "Heh, hate to intrude this sweet moment, though that might be hard to believe since I did it earlier and you might still be mad and.." The stare from the blonde princess told her to just stop that sentence there. "Are, we still friends?"

"Yeah, though I guess we never stopped being friends." Star replied before sighing. "I just want to know why you were talking bad about my brother. I thought you'd be happy knowing that we bother have siblings. I thought that made us more alike."

"Well, it's like, you know I don't say a lot about them, you know?" Star slightly nodded. "They're always annoying, and they pester me, and they stink a lot, and, and they, they don't really, they just take up everything that I have. Nothing's really mine, everything is everyone's now, and it's really, really bugs me, like a lot, and I enjoy having a friend that's just my own friend." The unicorn sighed sadly once more. "I saw you change around the little sti.." She stops herself from finishing that insult. "..Q-fly, and I thought things were going to change badly for me. I, I was wrong. He's, he's fun enough." She finishes looking down at the smiling prince.

"Yeah. And I'm sorry for charging angrily at you guys." Star sheepishly said. "And for ignoring you today." She held her brother slightly higher as she moved on. "I'm alone a lot more around here than you'd think, and when I found him all alone, and fought off a killer monster that almost cut me in half, he was around with me, helping me beat it up. I realized that I had someone that helped protect me, so I wanted to do the same for him." She snuggles up more closely to the baby. "We laugh together, sleep together, get full on corn together, but, but.." She stops herself from stuttering as she tried to hide her apparent shame. "I still don't know how this whole sister thing works. I want to protect him, and go all out crazy, but is it possible to do both?" A heavy huff breathed out of her. "I just want be a good sister."

Out of nowhere, Pony head rushed into Star's side, apparently trying to give her a hug, even without the arms to do so. "Well, you'll never see me doing this kind of thing with my sister's, but, but I think you do great as one." Star looked up happily. "I mean, it's mushy, and emotional, and messy, but it fits you both." She tried to hold on to some pride by not fully giving in to the sentiment, something that she was failing at. "You make a good sister. Better than me anyways."

Star, in another quick moment, returned the hug fully, pulling both Ponyhead and Steven in to the fold. "You've always seemed like a good one to me."

A calm, but a bit relaxing silence came over the trio once she let go. The two princesses were finally able to get the gushy and awkward parts out of the way once they ended the hug. Even Quartz seemed to be quiet, as if knowing not to speak at this moment. Of course, that came to a screeching stop.

"So he helped you pummel a monster already?" Star elatedly shook her head. "Well, why don't we find more things to beat up! What'ya say, Q-fly?" She stared at the baby once more, who with a bright and big smile, encased them all in the bubble once more. "He's officially better than any one of my sister's now."

* * *

"Have I made myself clear, Rombulous?" Moon threaten once more as she had placed the crystal headed man in the corner, making him face the other way as she leered at him. Though he couldn't see her scowl, the commission member still felt very out of his comfort zone being in this position.

"I promise, I promise I'll leave your kid alone!" Rombulous cried in, while a bit exaggerated, genuine fear and terror. "Just make it stop, make it stop!"

He didn't have the chance to say anymore as the trio of troublemakers shot themselves through the wall, crashing into him and knocking him out. Slightly taken back, Moon's eyes widened at her adopted son's ability. She guessed that this is what her daughter meant by the 'magic bubble baby' thing she kept on repeating since that day. "Uh, are we in trouble?" Star asked innocently as she held her brother high with the beadiest eyes she could make.

Just taking a deep breathe, after hours of uneasiness, turned away. "Not today. Not in this case."


	11. AU Interlude: Monstardiamond 1

**So yeah, I wanted to write one more thing for this story before going back to writing for Gift of a diamond, and I decided on this. Thanks goes out to the guest reviewer who suggested it. He wanted it to be on this instead of my anthology fic, so here it goes.**

 **Like I said, this is based off the steven diamond and monstar au's, where Toffee is married to Moon. This is actually expanding on an idea I'm saving for the 'Mathmagic' chapter, but until then, enjoy.**

 **Also, since this is an alternate universe, these two act differently than how I usually write them.**

 **This is a short chapter, and also the first of the chapter's I'm going to actually title for now own, so look forward to that.**

* * *

Snap. Snap. Snap.

Based on the number of times you would see the Princess do it, you'd probably assume that looking out the window, gazing aimlessly at the horizon, that it was her favorite thing to do. And in all fairness, there was a certain calm charm that it always held.

But the Mewman heir to the throne didn't sightsee because it was her pastime, or because the view was particually beautifully in anyway. No, she gazed because it was the only time she could fully appreciate looking at the kingdom in its fullest, without hateful or fear filled eyes gawking at her every move. It was the only time she could say she felt comfortable in her own skin while also technically being outside the walls of the castle. She didn't need to be protected by any means; she learned long ago how to protect herself, but there was always a sense of precaution she always needed to hold whenever stepping out.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

The sun always felt refreshing on her gray scaled skin, to run in it, bask in it, be engulfed in it's comforting warmness. Her father often disapproved of any going out of almost any kind. Whether it was for public appearances, parties, special holidays or reunions, or even a sleepover, the less time spent outside, the better. She couldn't blame him, he was the one that made it possible for their people to be together, and as such, his main duty was to help negotiate and maintain peace between the Mewmans and monsters. He had to worry, he had to make sure nobody, especially his own family never got hurt.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

Her mother would, as much as she love her husband, often encourage going out. The Queen was a fearless, unrelenting, 'cool warrior mom'( as she delicately described it long ago) that was hardly mindful or hurt by the many people that sent her sour looks or even threats. She was the first queen in mewman history to work side by side with a monster in a joint effort to save Mewni, and the second queen to ever marry a monster. She didn't care that the people thought she betrayed traditions and let the monsters take over. She didn't let bias stop her from doing what needed to be done.

And she certainly didn't let hate stop her from having her, Star Butterfly, the half Mewman, half lizard princess.

SNAP. CRACK. ZAP.

"Hey! Watch it!" Star immediately jump in the air after having her tail singed by something bright, shocking, and hot. Preparing for a fight, she landed in a predatory stance and immediately charged at her attacker. Not giving a single moment to rest or relent, she grabbed the small figure and wrapped him around her long, slithering tail. Clearly having the advantage, she took this chance to flip him over, pinning him down by the arms as soon as he hit the ground. Her hair messed up, her breathing slightly erratic, she took a long gaze at who dared to strike her from behind.

To her slight shock, but mostly annoyance, she saw that her assailant was even smaller than she realized, with young, chubby features that was all around his body. He wore an outfit that she would have seen many of the knight wear, except it was mostly black, with patterns of yellow scattered across the torso and arms. His face was one she immediately recognized, neatly combed spikey black hair that was so stiff that they were practically pins and tacks laid across his head. The most distinguishing feature, however, was the eyes. They were a bright yellow that burned through his skinned due to how much they shined through his skin. And his pupils, so unique, so impossible to miss or forget, pitch black, diamond shaped, pupils.

"Oh, it's you." The princess calmed down as she got off, a little miffed at the little guys actions. "What the hell where you thinking? I've could've disemboweled you if I gave it another second's thought." She warned, hating the fact that he was still smiling despite her attack. "And I'm still up for it."

"Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh, is that what you think would've happened?" The little child smugly asked, unworried, and unphased by the threat, in fact, he seemed very amused by it. Taking noticed of Star's annoyance, he rolled his eyes as he picked himself up. "I was merely stopping you moping before it became depressing. Any more sulking, and you would've been like mother whenever she's forced to stay at any of father's peace seminars."

"Rhinestone…" The princess groaned her brother's name as she facepalmed. "Like any rock I encounter, you are far too dense than you need to be."

"Ohhh, a rock joke, because of the thing placed on my chest, sooo clever." The brother, taking false offense to her comment. "That's just as refreshing to hear all the other ones, like how I have a cold dead stone for a heart, or that I'm easy to crush under pressure, or how I'm an emotionless pebble that should be tossed to the side, or that having a giant yellow rock in the middle of my chest makes a pretty easy target for a lethal blow."

The reptilian girl blinked once in shock, knowing that she never said those last two. It scared her how he was able to take in such a serious comment with so much casualness in his voice. "Ah, I'm pretty sure those were threats."

"Jokes, threats, in the serious times that we're experiencing, I find life way easy to get though if I refrain myself from knowing the difference." He shrugged off, jumping on the ledge Star was gazing out on to sit down. "I laugh more that way."

"Rhiney.." Star spoke softly, ignoring the glare her brother gave her. He absolutely hated the shortened nickname she chose for him. That made him sound like some sort of prissy ass. He was royalty, captain in training, and his name always needed to reflect that. "..who said that to you?" She places a caring hand on his shoulder, showing how serious she was. "If someone threatening you, you need to tell someone, better yet, tell me who said it so I can go down there and rip their arms off."

"Oh, wouldn't that be a sight to admire." The prince murmured with a small smirk forming at the corner of his mouth. "As much as I enjoy roughing up simpletons and thoughts of bloody murder, I'm afraid that my misfortunes are not why I came here." Standing up on the ledge, maintaining a perfect balance despite the worry on his sister's face. "I came for the same reason why I zapped you: your bumming me out." Star tried to look away as he accused her. "You've hardly stepped outside the building for the past few months, and I'll be damned if I let I continue a second longer." Not waiting for a reply, he jumps off the ledge and grabs ahold of Star's tail, pulling her in the other direction towards the door.

The was no moment. About ten seconds later, the gray skinned princess had yet to move from her spot, her little brother running in one place as he went nowhere. "We both have enhanced strength, clod." She insulted as she pulled her tail back, making Rhinestone faceplant himself with the floor. "And yours doesn't work that well against one that's has at least 5 years of more development."

"You can't stop me from helping you." The determined prince shouted as he grabbed on to his sister's hand this time, pulling with twice the strength he had done before. "And you know I'm not above anything to do so." He pulled harder and harder as seen by the discomfort on Star's face. Despite what she said to him, Rhinestone was fairly stronger than her, at least during moment where he seemed to need it most. They seemed to come out in burst, fading away almost as quickly as they appeared.

It still wasn't enough to force her to budge. She wouldn't move for anyone. She could stand here forever if she so desired to. Nothing was going to get her to move, not even the slight numbness that was forming around her fingers...

rip

Once again being thrown on the ground, both Star and the younger sibling found themselves gasp at what just happened. In the struggle, Rhinestone hold on Star's index finger was so strong that it ended up tearing off her hand altogether, very cleanly with no blood spilt. Star herself didn't feel much pain at all as she starred at her damaged appendage. Rhinestone was more disgusted at what just happened, rather than worried or panicked, knowing what would happen next. A small crinkling sound emerged from her hand, the broken bone repairing itself, marrow and all. Soon veins, tendons, and muscle formed around it also, becoming a complete replica of her missing finger, as if no damage ever came to it. "Ow." The princess simply stated, mostly to voice her annoyance.

"I said not above anything, you know." The repeated himself with a sigh as he tossed the finger to the side like garbage. "We both know I'm not going to stop, so might as well tell me what's wrong before I begin pulling off more body parts."

"Okay, spill it, why are you so insistent on helping me all of a sudden?" She said accursedly. "I know it's not out of the kindness of your heart, we both know how limited you are in that."

"In kindness or heart?"

"Both."

"Touché." He shrugged, getting to his point already. "Well, it was mainly because Ponyhead kept insisting on checking up on you after your last get together. She said how she was afraid she pushed you a little too much at the bounce lounge."

"Heh, that girl is too caring for her own good." Star laughed a little. If there was one thing Pony wasn't, it was pushy. Star sometimes wonder how she was able to take care of herself when she's always watching over her, her sisters, whatever dumb boy that tried to take advantage of her(Star always knew how to take care of them properly, so no problem there).

"I said you where fine of course, and then she pestered on and on about how you didn't seem comfortable at all, and how you murmured 'it's pointless' occasionally whenever you dozed off." Rhinestone continued to explain. "At first, my first instinct was to ignore her worry and focus more on swordsmanship. But, like I said, you're literally depressing me, because every time I let my guard down, I'm hit with a massive mood swing that almost unbearable to feel." He points to his own cheek marks, showing off what he meant. "I can recognize my own feelings and emotions from yours, and, well here we are." He stares straight up at her, matching eye contact perfectly. "Tell me what's wrong, and don't lie to me. Aside from an empathic connection, Dad helped me develop a natural B.S sense, so it's impossible to lie to me."

Skepticism on that statement aside, Star figured it was pointless not to tell the truth anyway. He'd probably just tell Dad about it, and everything from their would be like a long day in court where she'd be on trial. "You know I'm a freak, right?" Star blurted out, widening the prince's eyes just a little.

"Star, you've had this talk before. Dad said to be.."

"I'm not talking about what other's are thinking about me, I'm talking about what I think of me." She corrected, not wanting to be corrected or lectured. "And, what I think, is that I'm a freak." She stressed out again. "And not just among the Mewmans, among the monster's too." Now confusion began to enter Rhinestone's head. "I'm the daughter of two of the most controversial figures in recent history. They stopped the war, they banished them from this dimension permanently, but they don't get love from either side." She moaned as she turned away.

"No, instead of being hailed as heroes and trying to bring some good for once, they're mocked, they're shunned. The commission think's mom is the second Eclipsa, Dad fight's daily to prove his loyalties to monster's and mewmans, and that leaves me, the daughter in the middle that can't fit in either side."

"Star.."

"I wake every morning with a tail attached to me, sometimes it lifts half of my body in the air, other times it knocks away the bed altogether and I end up on the floor." She rubs her tail, still feeling sore in a few areas. "I'm suppose to represent the unity and future that both people can have, but all I do is end up confused. I'm suppose to be this refined and dignified royal for Mewmans, but I have to get dirty and rough and possible punch people in the face whenever I deal with monsters." Her voice raises in tone and anger as she begins banging on the stone of the ledge. "I literally have to hide a tail between my legs at every gala and ball, but I have to sharpen my teeth everyday to keep them healthy. I bathe in the finest water available, and yet drink from the swamp at least once a week." Cracks on the stone begin to form, becoming larger and larger with every pound. "I have to deal with both acne and shedding. Nothing about my life adds up or fits!" The stone finally give in, sinking both of her fists into it, though that hardly matter to her as she rest her head on the now busted ledge. "It just hard to feel comfortable in my own skin, and the scales really don't help."

The boy, still processing the giant load his sister just let out, stood their silently for a while, just staring at his sister. He thought about everything she just said, and just how well she was able to hold this all in. He knew that this couldn't have been a recent thing, this was something she gave a lot of thought about before saying anything.

He thought about he didn't figure this out sooner, finding out his sister's secrets was something of a little hobby for him, it was always fun, exciting, adventurous when it had to be, and something he could always go to talk to his dad about. Both Star and Mom were terrible at keeping secrets, so it was always fun comparing who kept the most and which once were the most funny. To this day, it is still very undecided.

This however, was something he needed to keep to himself. As far as sibling relationships go, they had something of a friendly rivalry with a slight cynical edge to it. They could insult each other from time to time, but that never distracted from how they truly felt.

"Star, remember, about three years ago how we snuck out the castle during that commission meeting both and dad were holding?" Rhinestone recalled, joining his sister's side, resting his head on the ledge as well.

Through the groaning and self-placed misery, Star turned and nodded her head. "Yeah. I wanted to get out and show how well I could protect myself, and you went along because you were afraid of the guards they left to watch over us."

"And we were fine until those Mewman traditionalist attempted to ransom you." He spoke with fear. That day still haunted over them, because despite how many dangers they've faced, how many of them seemed impossible to get through, that day was the closest the two of them had ever come to death. "I, I was afraid that they were do something, something horrible to you, they held that knife close to you, and the fear, it, it was like nothing I've ever felt." His eyes began to sadden as he continued. "The best and worst thing about sharing empathy with someone is that you're always know what they're feeling. And I felt your fear. I, you, you thought you would die, didn't you?"

"Yes." She silently replied with a shudder. "But that was before I knew about the regeneration thing."

"Yeah, but in that moment, it, it overwhelmed me." His voice became even more distant and empty. "And, and you know what happened next. The power, the shear power that flowed through me, the energy, so consuming, so deadly, I, I, I..."

"You almost killed them." She finished. The prince could only nod in agreement, his nerves being too shaken to finish that sentence. "You couldn't have known what you were about to do. And, and they lived, and you regret..."

"I regret nothing." Now Star was taken back by that sentence. "I would've felt better if they didn't. I think about that night, and I can't help be wonder, what if I did? Would the castle be better for it? Would you be better off for it." He tries to turn his head in shame. "I wonder, with the power growing inside me, the energy all building, waiting to be used. I feel like a bomb just abiding it's time to go off."

"Rhiney, why, why are you telling me this now?"

"I guess for the same reason why you did: because I want you to know now. I want you to know that you're not alone in feeling the way you do because maybe, maybe I've felt it for as long as you have." He tries to walk away. "You're not the only one who's not comfortable being who you are."

He would've gotten out the door if it wasn't for Star's tail dragging him back to her. She gave him a serious, compassionate look before embracing him completely. Hugs like these were far too in-between. They didn't really take a moment and just breathe air together. They always took too long to realize how much one needed the other.

The prince didn't even try to fight it back as he returned it fully. It was very comforting to know he had someone like him to talk to. "So what do we know?" Rhinestone asked curiously as the hug ended.

"The only thing we can do. Stop feeling sorry for ourselves, move on with life, and be there for each other whenever the other messes up." She scuffled up his hair with a mischievous smile. "So try not to screw up next time."

"Wait, wait, who's the screw up?" Rhinestone lifted an eyebrow as he accepts Star's bait. "I was the one who helped you out of your funk! You're the one screwing up."

"Yeah, no, I'm the future of the kingdom, a Queen in training, so if anything, my funk was what got you out of your funk, so, yeah me helping you was a lot more impressive than you helping me." She retorted with a huge smile.

"Ah you know that B.S detector I said I had, it's going off right now." He replied with an equally huge smile. Things were now back to normal.

"Is that really how you were able to tell a lie?"

"No." He replied with a lot of smug in his voice. "Your tail twitches every time you do."

"Oh really, is this a lie?" She tackles him to the ground once more and pins him down. "You're the worst brother ever."

"I don't even need to see in order to tell that's a lie." He smiles as he begins to fight her off. "I already know I'm the greatest person you've ever met."

Yep, everything was back to normal.

* * *

Next: Lobster Claws

The royal siblings find themselves in disagreement when the opportunity to change someone presents itself.


	12. Mom

**Okay, for any reader of my 'Gift of a Diamond' story, you know that the reason why I haven't been writing lately is because I've been traveling a lot with my family over the past month to see my long lost Sister, and yeah, it was probably one of the greatest moments of my life, seeing her, her husband, and her son, so yeah, lots of family fluff in my life lately.**

 **So in light of that, I decided to write this short chapter before getting back to Gift of a Diamond. This is not the Lobster Claws episode like I said it would be, which I'll save for next chapter. Enjoy.**

The reaction the little Mewman Princess had to the royal family's recent addition was anticipated, thought that didn't make the adjust to the Princesses never ending eagerness all the more overwhelming. Day after day, she would be seen carrying the little baby around as if she owned him. There was almost never a moment where she let him go. Even when they set him to bed in the finest baby crib they could find, the young Star Butterfly would often sneak into his room at night and carry little baby Quartz back to her bed to sleep with. It was cute, a bit alarming and creepy, but cute nonetheless.

In fact, as of this moment, the Queen of Mewni and her husband were in the middle of wrestling over the baby as their 6 year old daughter refused to hand him over like he was the latest toy that only she could touch. "He's my magic baby, I found him!"

"Star, what did we talk about when we adopted him?" Moon said in the most stern and motherly voice she could speak. By all means, seeing her daughter this happy all them time brightened her day, but she was really pushing it as far as child rebellion goes.

"He's apart of our family, so nobody 'owns' him unless we specifically specify so in the future." Star repeated the detailed lined back to her mother as she finally stopped raising the baby above her head. "But how can you expect me to ever put this guy down?! I can finally have smart conversations with someone who never argues back at me with their own opinions." The baby blew a bubble of spit, completely oblivious to the current argument that centered around him. "Besides, I think he loves me the most, and since I love him the most, that means we always have to be together."

"You've held on to him for nearly two days without a break, I think he needs a moment to breathe." Moon responded with a slight mutter. Star, with clear distain with what she had to do, handed little baby Quartz in her mother's arms.

Moon, if you had asked her before, wouldn't know whether or not she wanted another child. Star on her own took nearly an entire entourage of knights and guards to handle, and River, more often than not, blurred the line between royalty and barbarian. In that kind of state, another child in the castle was kind of out of the question.

But Quartz wasn't just another child in her eyes. He held a lot on his shoulders concerning his unique, heritage, which she felt personally responsible for in a weird, but natural way. And so far, he had brought nothing but joy and smiles to the rest of the family, Star had something to keep her distracted, and River finally had another male in the castle he can indulge his masculinity and warrior instincts in. In fact, Quartz has spent so much time with his sister, that she hardly had the time to look over the little tyke herself. This was long overdue in hindsight.

"Fine, you can him for now." Star almost growled as she gave the baby up. "But when he starts saying my name again, we'll see who he really wants to be with."

"Star, he barely started to mutter syllables, I don't think he's saying what you think he's saying." Moon almost rolled her eyes as she finally held little Quartz in her arms. Familiar maternal feeling returned to her as she did her best to keep the baby as comfortable as possible. He smiled back to her, reaching out for the marks on her face. "I'm so glad you're here know, little one, more than you'll ever know."

"Sta, staaaa.." The baby cheerfully yelped, turning his head towards Star once more, reaching out for her. "Staaaaa, Staaa.."

"I told you! I told you, he's saying my name, he's calling out for me!" Star gloated, feeling very vindicated. "He loves me the most!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Star, we can't know for sure." River chimed him, taking the child out of his wife's hands, not noticing Moon's resistance. "That's the one thing he's been able to say ever since you've found him." The short statured king then began to toss the baby in the air, erupting in small laughs and giggles from the adopted prince. "Your going to be a brave little one aren't you, fearless and bold, like your dad, aren't you?"

"Da, da, da..." The baby murmured, making all three of the royals dead silent. "Daaa, Daaaa.."

"Wait, is he really saying what I think he's..." Moon tried to inquire, though she was immediately cut off by the sobs rom her husband.

"He, He called me dad, he call me..." River got to he knees, handing the young one back to Star as he let the water works fall from his face. "I'm a father, I'm a father, this, no moment has ever made me so happy!" He cried once more, stopping once he realized that Star was still right in front of him. "Ehhhmm, except, what I meant to say.."

"Nah, it's okay. I know he that lovable." Star reassured her father as she squeezed little Quartz as much as she could, making the baby say her name over and over again.

"Well, I'm sure he wants to be with me now, so I'll just.." Moon, feeling a bit bitter at what she just saw, takes Quartz out of Star's arms once again. "I'm your mother, little Quartz. Can you say that? Can you say who your mom is?"

"Staa." He responded almost immediately, making Star's eyes light up in happiness.

"No, not your sister, I said mom." Moon repeated again, trying her hardest not to get frustrated. This was a baby, the son of someone that was very close to her, she literally had no reason to get mad at him. "Say Mom."

"Sta.."

"Mom."

"Sta.."

"MOM."

"STAAAA.." The baby continued to call out for the princess, who was more than eager to take the baby out of her mother's arms.

"Okay, now that we've established who he loves the most, I think I'll take things from here.." Star reached out for Quartz, only for her mother to walk off with the baby. "Hey! Magic baby said it himself, he thinks I'm his mother, so I believe that gives me the right to.."

"You're still his sister, not his mother." Moon immediately corrected as she exited the room. "And I'm still as much as his mother as I am yours, and as your mother, I'm ordering you to stay here while I go handle something with your brother." The little girl's pout was enough of an answer for the Queen as she let the room.

 _'What am I doing wrong here?'_ Moon complained internally as she continued to stare at the family's recent addition, who only looked back at the purple diamonds that where on her face. _'Star wasn't this age not too long ago, and she had no problem recognizing who I was.'_ She pondered, thinking back to her elder child again. ' _Then again, she said dad way before she came around to saying mom.'_

Maybe she was thinking about this too hard. She couldn't compare little Quartz to her daughter, not when both still had a lot of growing to do. Quartz was still a baby with a lot of potential.

Thinking about that made her think about her old friend. Lifting up the bottom of the baby's clothes just a little, she caught a glimpse of the baby's precious stone, and could only sigh in response. "Do you know about her? Did you ever have a chance to see your mother?" Moon asked the baby as if he could give her an answer. "In her final moments of life, did she have the chance to hold you as I am now?" She held the child closer, holding him in more of a hugging position. "Did you have the chance to love her as I wish for you to love me?"

Gurgles and burps where her only answer, bringing only a sadden chuckle. Maybe this was too much to ask of the baby. Quartz already had a mother, and he would never be able to meet her. That was very disheartening for her to take in. When Moon needed to step up, the Rose Guard was there, as she had been for her mother, and all the other queens before her. Even with her disappearance some years ago, it was hard to imagine a time where she wouldn't be there.

 _'Is it selfish of me to do ask this of you?'_ She thought somberly as she felt the baby's heart beat sync up with her own. _'Am I so selfish ask of you to call me mother, when you belong to someone more deserving?'_ She felt like this uncertainly would overwhelm her if she didn't get an answer soon. "I know you can't understand me yet, and maybe, maybe it'll never be easy for me to tell you this." The baby just looked up to her with a blank expression. "I, maybe it'll be easier for me to show you first."

It wasn't much of a walk before she walked to where she wanted to. The castle had many decorations that could be a wonder to look at. Hours could be spent detailing the long and boring history and meaning of each, but if you asked in Moon's personal opinion, there was really only two specific things in the castle worth looking at.

The first was the 'grandma' room, where painting told the stories of all of Mewni's past queens, telling about them and whatever great thing that they did. The second was another painting, this one being a painting of one particular pink figure. The person in the figure stood with a calm and loving smile as what looks like a gentle breeze passes by. Quartz upon looking at the portrait became memorized by it, really concentrating on it as he continued to gaze.

"This, this is the Rose Guard, young Quartz." Moon spoke as she gazed at the painting too. "The bravest and most passionate warrior that Mewni ever had." She took the time to sit down on the ground, bringing the baby closer to her. "The greatest friend any princess and Queen could ever have." A single tear fell down her face upon remembering. "She's your mother. Your real mom." Her voice became sadder and sadder.

"It's been so long since I've had to think about it. Her leaving, her presence, gone, it's was like loosing.." She couldn't finish her sentence as she saw the baby's face began to sadden as well. "And now your here, just like me, without her, being here, without her to help or guide, or, or.." She clears her throat again.

"I just can't help but think this is a sign of some sort. That maybe, maybe this is her way of being here now." A small smile begins to rise again on her face as the small baby reaches for her face, actually managing to wipe away one of her falling tears. "Your here with me. You're lost, and alone, and you need someone to be here to guide you, as she did." Moon takes off one of her long blue gloves and uses her bare hand to pet the soft smooth skin of his cheek. His cheeks still seemed to glow around where the star's formed. Those alone were a sign if she ever saw one.

"I won't let you down, old friend, I promise you." She stood up straight, feeling more confident than she had been. "And that promise goes to you too, my little gem." She gives the boy one last pet on the head. "You don't have to ever call me mother, but that's what I'm going to be to you, until the day I can't be that to you anymore." A cute yawn was emitted from the baby, signaling Moon to take him to bed.

"I'm always going to be here for you when I need to." She expressed as she entered the large bedroom with a crib in the middle. She knew that within the hour, Star would sneak in here and watch him sleep until she fell asleep herself, but for now, she could enjoy this little sight for herself. "I will be your mother, and this will always be your family." Tucking in as he begun to close his eyes, she began to turn her back. "I love you Quartz."

"Muma." A quiet mumble was heard as the baby's breathing got heavy.

For the rest of the day, the smile on her face refused to leave.


	13. Lobster Claws

**Aha! Finally, finished this chapter. :)**

 **I'm on a roll, so expect another chapter sometime soon.**

 **Guest: Hmm, that's a very interesting idea. I'm still holding out if canon actually gives an explanation, but I can see myself using that idea, mostly because like I've shown, Quartz doesn't have a high opinion of Glossaryck, which is actually the subject of my next chapter.**

 **JudgeDreddSA: Yes, there was love, but no where near the levels of Pearl. Rose was a huge comfort for Moon when she first became Queen, so it's more on the lines of 'oldest family friend' then what you're thinking.**

 **King of Fans: The CGs are still on earth, unaware of Steven's dimensional crossing. Greg is stressed, yes, though he has an, outlet, for that in this au. Just got to wait and see what that is.**

 **Please review. :) This is the 2nd chapter that adapts and episode, and I want to know what you guys think of it.**

* * *

Another peaceful day had come over eco creek, nothing eventful ever happening, nothing ever changing, and certainly, nothing ever being done to disrupt the peace.

Dozens of monsters were formed in the yard of the Diaz residence very early in the morning, shouts of anger, ferocity, but mostly pain, were heard all around as they got blasted, bombarded, kicked, and punched by pretty much every form of physical assault as they continuously attempted to steal something from a 14-year old girl.

Yep, nothing new today.

Monsters left and right were tossed and thrown in every direction as they failed to do their only job. Despite all the muscle and numbers that they had for them, they were no match for the skill and magic of the duo currently kicking their butts. Bruises were forming, teeth were cracking, and blood was spilt for something that they weren't even going to have themselves. It was a truly pathetic sight to witness.

That at least was the thought process of the midget sized bird creature leader Ludo, who with every passing second continued to regret his life choices that lead him into hiring a bunch of bubbling dolts that practically tripped over their own feet. With every groan, moan, and cry of pain he heard, the frustration was really beginning to reach it's boiling point.

Not that he had a say in it, as he floated safely on his own bat monster, ordering around his monsters and constantly complaining like a 3 year old being denied candy.

With each blast of magic and painful kicks to the neck, beating up monsters was practically becoming a habit by now. Both Star and Marco stood for a moment in rest to appreciate their latest piece of madness they've stumbled into. Unfortunately, the pride they felt was short lived once Marco realized that a pair of monsters became competent enough, or were at least able to work through the various bruises, to sneak up on the blonde princess unsuspectingly. Marco couldn't even issue out a warning as he was suddenly pile-drived into submission, likewise, Star was swooped into the air with a might tug from a blue skinned antler monster, retraining her arms, and thus her use of the wand. She screamed and struggled as much as she could against her captor, only to find it inescapable.

"Finally!" Ludo shouted with joy. His tired, yellow eyes lit with anticipation for this moment. It finally looked like today was the day he's been waiting for. "Don't just stand there, grab it from her!" He makes a quick head turn for the closet monster. "Lobster Claws, you!"

The large sea crustacean, who was partially oblivious to what was around, immediately snapped into submission as he prepared to finally steal the wand. "Yes, my whole life been prepping up for this day! Go red boy, go red boy!" He chanted to himself to get pumped up, stretching out his arms and claws like he was about to lift a dumbell as he took a step closer.

"Stop flexing your thorax and grab it!" The frustrated bird man demanded with his usual stern and impatient tone.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Still getting in the mood, he made sure, or at least acted like, every movement would solidify his name in monster history. "Get ready princess, this is happening nooooooowww!" With a mighty slow scuttle, and a dramatic reach of his right arm, he dove his hand right into Star's direction while closing his eyes, clamping hard onto the first thing he came into contact with, ripping it out with barely any difficulty as he held it high in the sky mightily. "I got it, I got it!" He cheered and danced happily, finally happy about succeeding in something in his rather useless life.

"What the.." The other monsters were not so impressed, especially Ludo who could only stare at the red shelled monster with complete dumbfoundment. Emphasis on the dumb. "Open your eyes, you moron!"

"You got clawed!" Not even acknowledging his master's insult, he giddily pulled down his arm to finally get a close look at the mystical item that's nearly cost him his life to get. Instead of the colorfully decorated wand that he had been reaching for, his smile quickly melted away as he realized that in his claw wasn't said magical item, but instead in it's place was a broken piece of an antler. "Oops."

The monster holding Star, upon realizing his head peace was half missing, began to whine and cry in agony, releasing Star, allowing her to launch herself in the air, for one final attack.

"Magic Crystal Cupcake Blast!" She shouted with a surprising amount of seriousness in her tone. As such, hundreds upon hundreds of tiny, hard cupcakes with crystalized tops rained down upon the legion of horribles, pelting them in the hard sugary goodness, adding to the thousands of injuries that they still hadn't healed from past attacks. Ludo himself was knocked to the ground on his face, his skull hat pinning him down with the teeth that stuck out.

"Well Ludo, that was fun as always, but we need to get to school." She said with he usually happy and excited tone as she talked down to Ludo like they were friends. "Plus my brother's coming later, and I don't want him to think we were having too much fun without him, so, shoo." Ludo, with reluctance, shoved himself from the grass and back on his feet. "Ah, you're still on my backpack." Ludo hands her the blue and spikey bag without turning back to her. "Thanks." Both her and Marco ran off with huge smiles on their faces, both feeling fulfilled, leaving the monsters to be miserable and in great pain.

"Alright morons, walk of shame, you know the drill." Ludo said with a huge wave of disappointment flowing through his body right now. This was starting to become too standard if he actually anticipated their defeat strategy. Echoes of the monster's cries began to encase the tear in reality. "Oh shut it, you big babies, just rub some dirt on it or something." The little green man was just about to enter the portal himself when he noticed the dark red failure himself trying to enter, so he immediately stops him in his tracks before he could. "Whoa, whoa, hold it! Where do you think your going!?"

Chuckling a little nervously, the lobster man was a bit hesitant to respond, even if he was use to angry outbursts by now. "Ah ha, just going back home to celebrate how close we came with my bros, like usual."

"Close, CLOSE?!" Ludo waved his arms with flaming fury as he literally becoming hopping mad. "We had that the most powerful thing in the universe within our fingertips, and you, YOU SIR, are the only reason why we lost!" Jumping on the frighten sea creature, Ludo pronounced his superiority over the red failure. "You are a heaping pile of Monster garbage, and YOU. ARE. FIRED!" He leapt off Lobster claws and climbed into the portal.

Not sure what to make of this particular outburst, Lobster Claws held the portal together, preventing it from closing. "Ha, nice one boss, you really don't hold back on the jokes, right guys?" He smiles hopefully at them, thinking at any moment they would spring out some sort of surprise.

"Seriously?! You even terrible at being fired!" The short green man shouted one last time as he left for his home dimension. Similarly, the rest of his monster squad left, baring angry and pissed off faces and let out the occasional mad rant. The antler monster did stay back, only for the sake of getting his broken half back, which the red creature had barely noticed was still in his hand.

The portal closed immediately before the red guy's eyes, still pondering what had just happened. He was no stranger to yelling, being demeaned, reprimanded, insulted, told by everyone he'll never amount to anything, that was just standard living when it came to being a monster. But this, this wasn't just the usual madness or disappointment, this was abandonment. Monsters had to always stick together, they were the only ones they could depend on for any form of kindness or sincerity.

Everyone he knew, the only friends he's ever had, left him alone, on earth, with no one else with him. A terrible sinking feeling began to set as the tears began to form. This wasn't going to be the part where his monster buddies came up to him with a handful of mud and possibly something warm to drink. This is the part where he realizes how alone he really is.

And with a heavy heart, and some weird, ominous, and coinvent sad music, he hung his face down, and began to cry.

* * *

Quartz enjoyed strolling threw the kingdom of Mewni, especially during the moments before he left for Earth. This was his time to truly soak in what each of the two worlds had to offer. He got to really appreciate what a beautiful experience just living in such a magical dimension really was. So many possibilities that could occur, so many faces to encounter.

Speaking of which, he was finally able to make his way out of the kingdom and into the dark, creepy, and very life threatening woods/jungle( he was always confused on what to classify it as). Sure it was dangerous, and something that his mother has stated on multiple occasions to stay away from, but blame the little bits of him that he liked to call his 'inner Star'.

Besides, unlike his sister, he was not there to try to fight something, it was actually quite the opposite. Ever since fighting one particular monster in a cave on Star's wand say, he's was trying something a little more, unusual than most Mewman's reaction to monsters. He was trying to help one.

Shocking some might say. Implausible, impossible, and so stupid to even consider, he knew what others would say, so that's why he always did it in secret. He figured that if this plan actually worked, than he'd surprise everyone.

Not to say he was overly confident, Mewmans and Monsters have years and years of bad blood between them, but the monster he was trying to help was actually very cooperative, if a bit a pushover, which honestly made things a whole lot easier on his end.

"I just hoped he remembers what we've talked about." He said to himself as he approached his target. Right in the not too far distance was Ludo's group of monsters, still moaning and groaning for what was probably about 5 to 6 hours. Dirt was practically clothed onto their skin as it covered everything, even their ,what was now probably infected, cuts. He walked little closer with little worry. He knew they were still probably recovering from their latest attack on Star, so they wouldn't even try fighting him today. That didn't stop the many glared the monsters gave him as he approached the horned bear monster, still rubbing his concussion away.

The little prince tried his best to ignore the many looks of hate that were thrown his way. "So, Bear horn, did we learn anything from last week?" Quartz asked in all seriousness as the bear continued to moan.

"Look Quartz Butterfly, I appreciate all the help you've given me for the past month, but, uuh.." The monster uncomfortably spoke, sending a feeling of disappointment to the royal. "It's not like you're advice isn't helpful, it's just that my job is to steal from your sister, and, and that kinda hinders everything that this friendship is based on."

Before he could retort, the tiny leader of the band of monsters came up from behind the hairy beast and pointed accursedly at the kid. "You heard the loser! Get out of here!" Ludo shouted so much that he misplaces his footing, making him trip into the dirt. "I've already been humiliated by one Butterfly today, and I don't need the help of another to feel worse. I have these idiots for that, thank you very much!"

"Oh, I'm not here to fight you guys, I've just been trying to help.."

"Help?! Help?! No Mewman, especially someone like you, has the right to meddle with my monster's lives!" A small groan of agreement waved over. "See? They're failures already, so no need to help them fail at something that'll never work." With another grunt, Ludo signaled his entourage to leave. They slowly rose up from the ground, leaving the young boy by himself, the bear creature mouthing the word 'sorry' as the faded from view.

"Don't take it too personally, bubble prince." A deep voice with a thick accent came from behind him. The source was the frog creature that always seemed to be by Ludo's side constantly. He held no smile, but his tone seemed sincere enough for a scowling frog man. "You're sentiment is good, but idea is very dumb. Mewmans and monsters are just too different. You can't change the nature of life." He leaves without saying another word, finally making the little boy alone.

He could only frown upon what just happened. He just extended his hand, and it got slapped down, hard. "I need to think of something else before I get depressed." With a simple whistle, his trusty pet Lion rushed up to him withoust hesitation. Quartz could only lean against his pink pet for support. "You don't think this is a helpless problem, right? I can help people and monsters get along?" Lion gave his usual stoic stare. "Yeah you're right. Maybe seeing Star will get my mind back on track."

It didn't take long for the loyal beast to comply, and within a blink of an eye, they were both back on earth, landing in the still destroyed lawn of the Diaz's. While the destruction wasn't something Quartz focused on too much, what really grabbed his attention was the giant red lobster man, still bawling his eyes out from today's earlier events. Curious as to why one of Ludo's monsters was seemingly left behind, he walked up to it. "Are you okay?"

* * *

"Wow, Earth history is soo cool." Star announced after she and her friend had gotten back from school. "Ben Franklin blowing up that kite monster with his lightning powers, like whoa." She explained back to her best friend in intrigue and excitement as the laser puppies began to surround Marco and shoot him, the teen having developed some sort of tolerance to the tiny burns.

"Hah, that's not what happened at all." He chuckled. One the upsides of your best friend being from another world altogether was that he got a good laugh at all of Star's misunderstandings, at least the ones that didn't leave to a maiming.

Star probably would've explained her expert reasonings as to why she was right, until her attention was caught off by the sight of her brother in the yard. Normally, that would be cause enough for her to run out and tackle him with a hug, but right in front of her younger sibling was one the monsters from before, seemingly gazing down at the kid with no clear intent with what he was about to do.

Still, that didn't stop the Princess and Marco from charging outside immediately, screaming as she launched herself at the creature. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" She shouted in the air, despite whatever her brother was trying to say. The creature rolled onto his stomach, completely content with whatever was going to happen next. "You want seconds on those cupcakes!?"

"Wait, wait.." Quartz tried to explained as he hopped on top of the monster, trying to get his sister to point the wand away. "There's no reason to fight!"

Of course, too steamed with anger to hear anything he said, Star stayed perfectly still. "Stand back, Quartz, I know these monster's style by now, and this is the part where they attack!" Both teens prepared for some sort of response, but the large crustacean refused to move even an inch. "He attacks, and then I blast him!"

"Go ahead, blast away, blast me!" Turning his head, the monster through as many eye daggers as he could at the two, making all three of the kids back away. Marco and Star were especially shocked by the monster's weird request. "There's no point in fighting you anyway."

"What, what's going, are you okay?" Marco asked, somehow missing the signals from Quartz not to ask. Despite this, the Monster slowly got up from the ground, with his eyes becoming big and watery.

"'Well, the truth is, is.." The water works burst out before he could complete his sentence. "..Master Ludo fired me!" He covers himself the best he could as he shamefully tries to turn away. "I can never show my face on Mewni again!"

"Wow." Marco responded to the tears almost on instinct. It wasn't uncommon to she any of the monsters cry, they did that plenty of times whenever Star unleased a swarm of bees on them, but for once, he saw them as something they always tell you a monster can never be: an actual person. "He's, taking this really hard."

"He's been like this ever since I got here." Quartz furthered explained. "He was just starting to open up to me, until he got pummeled in the face, that is." Quartz gazed an eyeful look at Star, who still seemed very unconvinced about the situation.

"What? You, you're really falling for this, bro?" Star inquired, only getting more stares in return. "Is this another one of your 'monster-friend' ideas?" Quartz tried not to look at Star directly after that line. "Seriously Quartz, I thought you were joking about that."

"There's nothing funny about trying to help someone that needs it, Star." Quartz snapped back, making the princess back away little. He was going into full serious mode. "And no, this isn't just another 'idea' I had. I was merely trying to get him to calm down a little."

"Quartz, if you were really talking to one of Ludo's minions, then how do you know that this isn't a set up! You've gotten comfortable around them!" She points at the monster again, who was struggling to capture a flurry of squirrels like a brainless dog. "For all intents and purposes, this could all just be a slightly more elaborate plan Ludo came up with."

"I don't think he's faking this." Fortunately for the prince, Marco seemed to agree with him, or at the very least, was reluctant to outright attack the lobster. "It kind of was our fault that he lost his job, so maybe we should do something?"

"Like what? He was the one who almost got my wand" Star pressed back at him. "And why do you care?" She turns back to her brother. "As a matter of fact, why do you care, Quartz? You live in Mewni, you know how this always turns out when Mewmans and Monsters mix it up." She presses her fore head against his as she picks him up. "You know that monster's are the bad guys." She spells out, only for the prince to eye roll.

"Well, I don't actually have to be bad." Lobster Claws admitted as he held a squirrel in his claw. "The truth is, I've always secretly wanted to be good. I know for a fact that bear horn was considering it."

"Really? Than, maybe we can help you with that." Marco offered, lighting up stars in Quartz's eyes. Finally, he's found somebody that didn't automatically punch a monster when one entered the area. Maybe it was an earth thing, but he was tremendously gratefully that he was Star's friend.

Star, on the other hand, was less than grateful at the proposition. "Have you guys not been listening to me?! Monster's are eeeeeeeeeviiiiiiiiilllllll." She laments. "There's no changing it. It's just their nature."

Star didn't know it, but hearing those words again felt like being hit with a brick, then being hit with another brick just so you can know that it was a brick that gave you that gigantic, rectangular bruise that formed on your head. He couldn't let this happen again. "No, it doesn't have to be like that!" He argued back, making the glares Star was making all the more sharper. "Nobody is just born naturally bad!" Lobster Claws did his best to prove the kid's point by letting go of the squirrel in his arms, still keeping his eyes glued to the rodent. "See, freaks of nature are still apart of nature, no offense."

"Well?" Marco tried to point out, though the case wasn't made any stronger as a brown, bushy tail was slurped down the monster's throat.

"Star, I know you have no reason to trust this guy, and that he's always tried to steal from you in the past, but please, trust me on this." Quartz dropped his serious glare and begged. His bulging, beady eyes got so big that Star wondered how they didn't fall out of his head. "If we can make him a better person, than we can make them all better people, which means a better Mewni, and that'll lead to an even better kingdom under your rule."

"Oh Quartz." Star relented as she finally pointed her wand down. "I'm still 50% sure that this'll lead into disaster.." A small frown of doubt grew on Quartz's face. "..but who doesn't have bad ideas every once in a while. Okay, I'll help you guys." Quartz responded with an immediate group hug, forcing Marco between the two. "But as soon as this monster tries to hurt you, I get to rainbow blast him off, got it?"

"Eh, seems fair. Now, how about I join in?" Lobster claws agreed as he squeezed all three of the kids as hard as he could. The trio could hardly say otherwise, mostly because their faces were too blue to say another word.

No couldn't say he wasn't eager.

* * *

The duo of Marco and Quartz decided that the best way to teach their new friend efficiently was to put him through some real life experience. Walking around town, seeking out opportunities to better one's soul. Star, of course, remained skeptical of the whole thing, watching them from behind, ready to attack when the moment came. "Okay Lobster Claws, the key to being good is to do unto others that they would do unto you." Marco explained as simply as he could.

The monster needed not further instruction as his moment of opportunity presented himself. Riding by on a bicycle passing them, a large dark skinned man with a huge, almost frightening, smile on his face, found himself flying in the air when the red one stuck his arm out and flung him off his back. "Like that?"

Quartz chuckled nervously, knowing that Star was already prepping her 'I told you so' look. "Heh, glad your ready to apply yourself, but that's actually 100% wrong." Marco immediately replied. "Your going to have to apologize for that."

"Nah, it's okay everyone." The man remained as creepily happy as he could be. "I landed on a sprinkler. It's liked what I learned in my days as a comedian: any hardship you encounter is best left ignored." He gets up on his bike and rides off like nothing happens. "No matter how much the impact hurts."

"Ughhh, this is too hard!" Lobster Claws complained. "I'm never going to get this right."

"Exactly." Star rose from behind, pounding the wand on her hand like a baseball bat. "You should just give up." She encouraged with great eagerness, still being ignorant of her brother's disappointment.

"Just ignore her, Lobster Claws, she doesn't know who you really are." Quartz padded his back. "I know we don't really know who you are, but that's because we're all still learning, and I believe you can learn this, if you just consider how others feel." The monster tilted his head like a dog to his owner. "What I mean is, the next you feel like knocking somebody out, see how it feels when it happens to you, and do the exact opposite."

"Hmm. I have the urge!" The monster pondered angrily, waving his closed claw in the air. But with a deep breathe, his eyes widen in realization. "Wow, that would've totally hurt. It's like using anger and aggression my entire life has lead to me relying on so many unhealthy and self destructive outlets." The monster returns the pat. "Thanks buddy."

A pouty expression grew on Star's face as Quartz returned it with only a smile. This, whatever this was, couldn't last long. Whatever was happening, it was going to go badly, and it was going to hurt her brother one way or another. She just needed a way to protect him from the blow when the time came.

Before any of them could congratulate themselves anymore, the quartet heard a young girl cries filling the air. She sobbed as she refused to turn away from the tree right in front of her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"My kitty's stuck in a twee..." She cried out as a fluffy white cat hung on from one of it's branches, barely able to cling to it's bark.

"Lobster Claws, go one, this is your chance." Marco encouraged as the red guy ran backwards up the tree. "And remember, do the opposite." Quartz gave him one nod of assurance as he made his way up. Despite the little girls fear of the monster's gentleness, Lobster Claws was able to secure the feline without a problem.

"See Star, monster's can be helpful." Quartz tried to convince his sister as much as he could. Star, at that moment, was really at a lost here. Quartz always wanted to follow through on whatever he set off to do, something that she still had a hard time doing, and she really wanted to see her brother succeed in something that was clearly making him happy.

On the other hand, it was a freaking monster! A dirty, vicious, monster that parents told their kids about to scare them into behaving. "Quartz, I still don't understand why you're spending all this time and energy on him? On someone we've fought we both know is trouble?"

"Because I don't want anyone to feel bad about themselves, ever. Not even the bad guys." Quartz responded in a strong, confident tone. "You saw how he was earlier, he was completely miserable. If I'm going to be a knight for Mewni, I have to know when to raise me shield, and when to shield someone."

"Besides, he helped the kid out." Marco supported Quartz's were. "You have to admit it Star, he does have a little good in him after alllAHHHHHHHH!" The success of the duo was immediately shot down as the little girl cried in horror. The lobster man upon getting down had taken it upon himself to consume the pet. The poor, defenseless creature had been dumped into the den of the monster's mouth, and would've been swallowed completely hadn't Star and Marco quickly pulled the cat out.

"Hehe, he's new around here." Quartz comforted the girl as much as he could before loudly addressing the red man without opening his mouth. "Lobster Claws, remember what we **just** talked about?"

"Oh yeah, opposite, got it." He reassured. Quartz turned around to sigh, only to feel his sister's growing disapproval weighing down on him.

"See guys, see? This is the kind of mess we're dealing with." Star demeaned their action. "Monster's don't talk about peace, they don't try to be nice to others. All they do is take what they want and terrorize those around them." She pulls out her dimensional scissors. "Look, we can just throw him somewhere, anywhere, and we can all just forget about it."

"NNOOOO!" Quartz worried outburst once again made the two step back a little. Realizing the over-played drama, he coughed and continued. "This is just a small setback, and I'm not ready to give up hope yet." He stands as triumphantly confident as he turns his back to the two. "Because, you know what they say: where's there's life, there's always hope."

His words would've inspired the two a little more if the monster hadn't moved on from eating the cat to eating the kid. As the boys fought to keep the kid alive, Star could only continued to roll her eyes. "That won't last long if his appetite has anything to say about it."

* * *

"Okay, okay, that was my fault. I've shouldn't have assumed you knew this." Marco explained apologetically as the three continued to walk down the road. Quartz stood between the lobster and his sister, knowing she was one step away from making crab meat out of him. "But you can't eat children."

"Really, not even the annoying ones?" Lobster Claws asked with no sarcasm whatsoever, putting an even deeper feeling of regret in Quartz's stomach.

"No, never!"

"Okay, but what if there's nothing around to eat, and they reaaally, like, really deserve it?" The boys shook their heads. "But what if someone abandons a baby that a wolf is about to eat, and nobody would ever know about it?"

"Then you save the baby! Always try to save the baby, no matter what!" The prince's tolerance was clearly on it's last legs. "Look, from now own, let's all just assume anything alive is off the menu." Quartz put out, trying to save himself the headache. Star snorted at the statement. "Really wish I didn't have to specifically point that out."

Before anymore time could pass to make the trio live to regret today's decisions, a bright hot light emitted in front of them. An entire house was encompassed with red flames, with woman running out, barely able to take another breath. "My baby! My baby is still inside!"

"Your baby?!" The three kids shouted in shock, horrified by the idea of something so young in so much danger. For Star, it was too much like what happened during her one day. The fire, the destruction, the growing guilt at the fact that it was entirely her fault. She couldn't move, let alone breathe, at the sight of the flame.

"Star, star, snap out of it!" Quartz shook his sister with as much force as he possibly could. "You need to do something!"

"Don't worry guys, red boy's got this." Lobster Claws, seeing his opportunity, scooted the tree away as he launched himself into the flames. "I can save the baby, and I know now not to eat it!" He smiles as he enters the fiery mass, getting burned and scorched almost instantly.

Now snapped out of her trance, Star wasted no time to get out her wand. "Cotton candy fire extinguish!" Within seconds, the bright pink light surrounded the entire house, covering it in the sticky dessert on both the inside and out.

Taking the chance to save the people inside, Star, Marco, Quartz, and the lady rushed inside, running into the foyer constantly shouted 'My Baby!'...

..only to found out that what she was referring to was the grand piano she had placed there, completely intact and without a single burn. Without even acknowledging who saved her 'baby', the lady who clearly needed to reevaluate her priorities turned it on. "I was wondering where the piano music came from."

"Wait, where did Lobster Claws go?" Star asked, though it didn't take long for them to find the answer as a giant, monster sized whole in the wall revealed he was outside, stuffing his face with an entire cart's worth of ice cream, while carrying the owner of said cart in his right claw. The disappointment couldn't have been greater for the two boys.

"Well, he's not eating humans at least? That's a step forward." Quartz scanned for a silver lining, only to get a look from his sister. "Yeah, that shouldn't have to be said."

* * *

The next attempt to help the red guy out went as well about as you expect, so to reduce the collateral damage, and to avoid police and media, the trio decided it was best if they continued the good guy training at home, not that Star gave them an easy time on everything that went wrong.

"Helping an old lady cross the street! Cross the street! How can you set that much fire everywhere, by crossing the street?! Star berated/demanded out of the monster as they all sat in the Diaz living room, watching the news as the headline ' ** _City in a pinch'_** was plastered across the screen.

 _"Tragedy today struck as a rampaging lobster man destroyed four city blocks."_ The news lady reported. _"While no one miraculously was injured, one cyclist morns the loss of his new bike."_

 _"I'm not crying, I'm happy_ " The same man from earlier announced as he was interviewed, his mouth having an even harder time keeping his smile up. _"I was a comedian, so I always know to smile in the face of major pain, no matter how much it hurrr.."_ He breaks down. _"Why did I waste my money on that bike!? I can't afford to spend money with funland constantly breaking down. I have nothing! I'm nothing, I'm.."_ Marco smartly turns off the TV before Quartz could get any more depressed.

"Haha, you know how the news sensationalizes everything, haha. You can't say anything now without drama stirring up, right guys." His nervous chuckles only serves to defeat his intentions. "Well, we still believe you can be good, right Quartz?" Though his head was down, a small nod, though a hesitant one, surfaced. "But until then, I'm going to find some big rubber bands." He walks upstairs, passing star who was about to open her mouth." Don't say anything." She forces her mouth to close, though the smug look on her face said everything. She gave the same look to her brother, who tried his best to turn away.

"You, you still believe I'm good, right buddy?" Lobster Claws asked with concern. Though he remined a bit neutral on the karate boy, he was certain the Prince was his friend. Well, at least he wanted to be his friend. He knew bear horn would smile a little bit more whenever he talked to the mewman royal, so he really didn't want to mess this up. "Right?"

Quartz couldn't answer right away as he stood silent for a good 30 seconds. "I, I, I need to go help Marco, be right back." He said in a dejected tone, leaving both the monster and the princess a bit unsure on how to feel. Star wanted to be proven right, but she didn't want Quartz to fail either. This was a no win situation for her no matter what.

"He shouldn't have to feel bad about this." Star said out loud unintentionally. "He shouldn't be responsible for your failure, and neither should Marco." She finally stands up and points accursedly at the monster. "They shouldn't have to bare whatever badness you bring."

"I'm not trying to, I'm doing my best to be better but, but.." Lobster Claws throws out his arms and groans in frustration. "You're impossible to deal with, you nag me, you expect me to fail, and that really doesn't help me to all." Star becomes even more offended by that statement. "Why is being good so hard? Why should I help other people, when it only causes me pain?"

Finally, an opportunity to end this once and for all. "That's because Marco and my brother are trying to turn you into something you're not, especially my brother. He always tries to help people, especially those who don't deserve it." Star pauses for an uncomfortable second before continuing. "You're a vile, repulsive monster, so why fight it?" She said all too eagerly.

"Yeah, yeah!" Lobster Claw's eyes widen in realization, agreeing with the teen's logic. "I am repulsive. I have no reason to help humans, I should be hurting them, especially people like you in particular."

"Exactly, and I whish I could go back to smashing your face with my brother." A second passed before she's hit with inspiration. "Maybe there's a way for us to get what we both want."

Back to the attention of Marco, he calmly searched for a way to humanely restrain the lobster man. "Just got to cover all the safety precaution, so that mean's I'll have to child proof him, baby proof, animal proof, Star proof.."

"Star proof?" Quartz from right behind him asked. Unlike his optimistic attitude from before hand, the kid's demeanor had greatly weakened. He's eyes were filled with way more dread then the teen wanted to see on his face.

"Yeah, anything here that can withstand a narwhal blast, or at least some form of stickiness." He mutter. "You always have to be prepared when Star's around."

"Are, is this working at all?" Quartz asked Marco as he tried to shrug off his somber mood. "Is it hopeless to help Lobster Claws?"

"What? Of course not." Marco reassured, putting his arm around Quart's back. "I believe if someone wants to be better, then we owe them the chance to be better. I mean, if I didn't give myself the chance for Star to explain herself on the day we met, we probably wouldn't be friends today." The smile returns to the prince's face slowly. "But what about you? You seem pretty into helping monsters, so why is that? Seems like most Mewmans are a little more trigger happy."

"You don't know the half of it." Quartz chuckled lightheartedly. "I like to learn about Mewni's heroes whenever I have the time, and my absolute favorite is the Rose Guard. She's taken down many of Mewni's threats pretty much since the beginning, and every Queen of Mewni has been taught by her, and now Mom is teaching me what she taught to her."

"Really? Shouldn't that advice go to Star then?"

Quartz gave the question a moments thought, pausing his movements before shrugging it off. Mom was teaching them both differently, so maybe that's how it had to be. "Anyway, before she disappeared some decades ago, she desperately tried to establish peace between Monsters and Mewmans. She spent nearly centuries trying to get it to pass, but it never came." His voice clearly saddens as he tries to finish. "There's still fighting, fighting that could've stopped years ago, and I want to help stop that. If I'm learning how to be like the Rose Guard, I would like to finish what she started."

"Well, that's, that's something." Marco stated with as much earnestness as he could. Quartz was already planning long term with this idea. "I can't really say much about that, other than that you shouldn't put too much pressure on yourself, because I'll help you when you need it." Suddenly remembering why he came upstairs in the first place, he turns around to grab something. "Now, I don't have any rubber bands, so do I just tape a bunch of pillows to his arms, or use teddy bear mittens?"

Truth be told, it still stung that Star didn't fully support what he was doing, but having her friend reassure him was a real comfort. "I say go for the teddy bear mittens."

The comfort was not to last as a loud thump roared from below them. Quickly the duo raced down the stairs to find a monster laying down, beaten and bruised through the door of the house.

Unfortunately, it was not the monster that they expected to see.

The commotion and turmoil continued to play out outside the house, so the duo rushed out, barely being able to avoid the monster's and magic being thrown in the air. Star, standing up on a hammock, immediately show her prowess by blasting all the creature's senseless and flipping into the air, landing right in-between the two as she fired another blast. "They're back?" Marco asked in confusion.

Bringing them to a huddle, Star leaned in with a whisper. "Yeah, I had to lead them here. I'm trying to get Lobster Claws his job back by letting him beat me up. Play along when it happens."

Finally, it was Quartz turn to return the stare that Star had been giving him all day. "Star, that's insane! We were trying to avoid going back to evil, not towards it."

His words had little to no impact on her as she pointed the small, powerful weapon at Ludo's horde of monsters. "That's right, stay back! I have a lot more than cupcakes with me this time!" An awkward pause fills the intensity building up in the air, irritating the princess. "I said that I have more than cupcakes with me this.."

"GO RED BOY!" Lobster Claws changed in over the fence, standing tall and fierce as Star faked stumbled when he stretched out his arm to fake punch her. "Booyahkasha! Don't worry boss, I'll take care of her."

"Boss? Didn't I fire you?" Ludo pointed out, though it didn't matter much as both Star and Lobster Claws became 'enthralled' in their little performance. Whenever she would 'duck', Lobster Claws would 'punch' her in the gut. Whenever he shouted in 'victory', Star would groan in 'pain'. Marco and Quartz didn't know what which was worse, how much they were really trying to sell this act, or how much the monsters were really buying it.

"He has gotten better."

"Very impressed."

"Yes, yes, there's clearly been marked improvement, but I'd really be impressed if you just GRABED THE WAND!" Ludo yelled in his continued frustration, clearly not going to be satisfied with this for much longer.

Taking that into account, and Star being distracted by her own 'acting', Lobster Claws saw his chance as she laid down on her back, waving the wand in the air. "You've defeaeeeted meeeeee…" She had finally let her guard down enough for Lobster Claws to snatch it away without a problem, prompting a loud "Hey!" from Star. Ludo's excited glee was drowned out by the shrieks of panic from the kids. They were in a pickle, and there was no stopping it.

A strange, dark feeling overcame the claw of the holder. "Wait, what's.." He started to question, the wand shaking violently in his grasp. "Happening to.." His voice became darker and more gaspy, the wand in his hand begging to form blood red cracks all around it. "meeeeee.." He droned out, his eyes becoming pitch back as he became one with the dark power of the wand. The cracks finally exploded into shards, revealing a sharp, pointy, darkly colored weapon born from evil. Gravity itself reversed as everything started to fly around him. The entire neighborhood was engulfed with a malicious aura as he embraced it. "Being bad feels so good."

The speechless on the prince's mouth reached legendary levels. Could he blame Star for this? Did he have himself to blame for this? Did he help create this, this atrocity? Or was Lobster Claws always like this? Were monsters just that, monsters with monstrous intentions and monstrous everything he had done today been hopeless? Did, did he fail to help him be better?

"Why are you doing this!" The princess shouted with anger. "We had an agreement! I was actually trying to help you!" In that moment, the monster hesitated the more he focused on the princess. His thoughts became so much more clear as his eyes returned to their normal color, the wand itself shed the dark coloration, now resembling the hard, red shell of the Lobster's body. This caught the princess of by surprise. Was she wrong once more? Did her brother actually have the right idea about these guys? "Whoa."

"Don't listen to her! She's the enemy!" Ludo reminded his former minion, immediately bringing back the darkness inside.

"Lobster Claws, I, I see the good in you! Don't do it!" The lobster man regain control once more.

"Be a monster and give it to me!" The darkness once again overwhelms him.

"Prove me wrong Lobster Claws! Please, don't do it!"

That seemed to be where the line was drawn. In the midst of the turmoil, Lobster Claws found himself to be in a state of indecision. He contemplated for what felt like hours, trying to grasp what he wanted to do. Get his old life back, but be evil. Be good, but work everyday to fix whatever problems he had. Never before had he faced such a difficult choice.

Everyone else in the yard seemed to keep their distance. Equally unsure of what was going to happen next, the monsters and the kids found themselves at a standstill, too afraid of making the wrong move.

It was in that distracted state that Marco saw his only chance to fix everything. He ran ahead of everyone while they were backing away. The air felt much heavier than usual, making Marco take big and heavy steps with each step forward. One of the monsters noticed and attempted to reach for him, though he didn't get far once Quartz, knowing what had to be done, jumped in and struck him with his shield.

Marco made sure to not waste a second as he jumped into the air, kicking his sorta ally/friend/large man child right in the face, immediately knocking the wand out of his grasp, ending the gloomy presence presiding over them. Star immediately grabs ahold of the wand in the air, proudly waving it as it turned back to it more bright and colorful form. "Oh come on! I always forget about that karate boy." Ludo moaned, knowing full well today was going to end in another defeat.

"Stardust daisy devastation!" She announced with fiery glee, engulfing the horde in the hard, sparkly dust. Despite it seemingly doing less damage than previous attempts, Ludo called a retreat, ordering his monsters to enter the portal back to Mewni. Everyone had no quarrel as the hopped right in, Lobster Claws following suite, before being stopped once again by his former boss.

"You, YOU! You had the wand in the palm of your claw!" He stated with his usual anger, making the lobster man hold his breath. His fears immediately faded once his eyes widen with childlike wonder. "What did it feel like?"

"Kinda tinigled."

"Aha! I knew it! I knew it I knew t and can I touch your claw!?" Ludo asked with an uncanny amount of niceness in his voice. He drooled over the monster's appendage like it was the shiniest diamond in the world. "NIIIIIIIICCCEE." He awed as he parted away to make room for his re-hired minion. "After you."

Marco tried his best to chase after them, while Quartz elected to stay behind him. "Wait, don't do it Lobster Claws! What about wanting to be good?" The teen got his answer in the form of a punch to the face, sending him flying backwards on his back. The portal soon closed after ward, the satisfied cheer of Ludo being the last thing they heard. Star leaned over her beaten friend, pondering curiously at today's events.

"Wow, just, wow. You guys were right." She admitted in shock. "He did have some good in him after all." She searched for her brother to congratulate him, though he was nowhere within her visual range. She thought it, and realize that she really needed to talk to him about it. If she had to repeat today, she probably would've done the same thing, but with a lot less judgement on her part.

It didn't take long for Star to find him. He was in the one place she would usually find him, her room. Specifically, he was on the roof of her room, watching the sunset in hopes to wash away the disappointment. Star couldn't help but sigh. Usually going on the rooftop was a time of joy for the two whenever the two played hid n' seek, whenever the two needed to hide from their parents, to watching the fireworks whenever a big celebration was occurring. "I find it weird how you were able to take your entire room from Mewni and place it right here." Quartz spoke suddenly, catching the sister of guard a little.

"Yeah, just a little peace of home I was able to keep with me." Star answered, sitting down right beside him. "I'd prefer it to be you, but you got mom and whatever deal you made with her before I left." Star glumly looked down. "I never really thanked you for that, did I?"

"You don't have.."

"But I do!" Star shouted a little to loudly. "I put Mewni through the ringer, and you stepped in to stop Mom from sending me to Saint O's. You backed me, and I'm always going to be grateful for that." She rubbed his cheek, especially circling her finger around the stars. "I'm sorry I didn't back you up today when I needed to. I, I just didn't want to see you get hurt by helping somebody who didn't deserve it, again."

"Star.." He calmly takes her hands of his face and holds him in his own. "You're family. I can never give up on that." A smile surfaces on the princess's face, though the frown seems to transfer to Quartz's. "But, are people like that, really that helpless?"

"The truth is, I, I don't know." Star answered honestly. "There was clear bad in him, and he would've given the wand to Ludo if we weren't their to confuse him."

"I guess that's true." He sadly admitted.

"..but he did try to fight it off." Star continued with a more hopeful response. "I was wrong to doubt him.."

"..But I was wrong to put so much trust in him." Quartz admitted. "I guess I was still upset about Bear Horn giving up."

"So maybe we shouldn't give up on helping people at all." Star scooted closer to Quartz. "Maybe.."

"Maybe we need to work to find people we trust.."

"..but also be willing to trust someone when the time comes." Both smiled as they wrapped each other's shoulders in their arms. "Why does the lesson always come so late?" Neither could really answer that as they continued to watch the sun fade away, allowing for the rise of the moon. "So, we stick side to side?"

"Back to back."

"Together forever..."

"That's a fact."

"Trust each other..."

"Everyday."

"Sister and brother.."

"All the way."

None of the two said anything else as they watch the night sky together, the light emitting from both their marks only being beaten by the shimmering stars.

* * *

 _Next time: Family portrait_.


	14. Family Portrait

**Syre23-Really glad that you hold my story in such high opinion! Like I've said, this is my first ever fic that I've ever had to adapt episodes, so it's nice to know I'm able to blend my two favorite characters together. Yeah, looking back on it, Chapter 12 is probably the weakest chapter. I wrote that while having writers block, and it shows. Hopefully I can avoid that from now on.**

 **JudgeDreddSA-Thanks for the heads up.**

 **Guest-I'm still planning for how I'm going to incorporate Steven in those episodes, but chances are a** 'most **likely' for Connie. I wouldn't think so, mostly because he still plans on being a knight for his own kingdom.**

* * *

"I'm so regretting this." The discontent King River groaned as he tried to sit happily with his family for a nice family dinner. The table was perfectly spread with a wide variety of corn to choose from, his two children were lost in their own little world, hardly noticing what was going on around him, and for once, Moon had calmed down enough to simply enjoy a nice meal together. All in all, it was as close to ideal as one could get.

But King River was not a happy king tonight. He was annoyed, livid, irritated of what they had to go through just for a simple photo. "Hm, yes, yes, keep chewing, keep on chewing." A small purple man with tiny wings observed from behind him, writing down on a note pad, becoming more and more enthralled with each word he wrote down. The King did his best to ignore the preying eyes, trying to enjoy his cream of corn soup as much as possible.

"Dear, if your going to murmur while you're eating, at least try to keep the beard clean." The Queen corrected her husband, pointing to the various stains of a yellowish-white substance all over his facial hair. The irritation of the King was hardly quailed, especially with the little purple man started to sniff the messy beard, and began chewing on it.

"Honey, this is ridiculous! I know the portrait needs to be perfect, but did we have to bring this freeloader with us?!" The king questioned, yelping in slight pain when the fairy like person ripped off a piece of hair, and gurgled it in his mouth. "For the past two weeks, all he's been doing is following me around, nosing around in everything I do! I can't even throw my axe right at monsters without him messing up my aim!"

"Your, highness, your highness, relax." The winged man causally interrupted after he swallowed the hair ball. " First off, it's not freeloading if you pay me to do this. Secondly, this is just how the art of Atelier de Colbat Ferrero works. In order to do it perfectly, I have to study you in your natural habitat. Observe your eating habits, become one with your environment, bathe in that strange, sweet incense that you light in the bathroom every night."

"River, what is her talking abou.."

"The bathroom is my time, MY TIME!" The King defended as he pounded on the table. Everyone, even his two children, oblivious to the conversation, turned their heads to what was going on. "Ugggh, how much longer are you going to 'observe me'?"

"Oh, not much longer. Come tomorrow morning, I'll be out of your hair." He said, spiting out the hair he ate earlier into the King's lap by accident. "Whenever I do family pics, I find it easier to study the simpler creatures first." River chose not to commentate on that as he threw the ball of saliva and hair over his head.

"Wait it out, wait it out.." River said under his breath. "Kid's, are you sure about being, 'observed' by this guy? We can totally put it off until you're ready."

"Observed by who now?" the 8 year old Quartz asked, still being absentminded about the whole thing, likewise with his sister, who paid the bare amount of attention as she gobbled down on her ear of corn.

"Mom paid some old guy to eat our food and make a picture of us." The thirteen year old explained. River grunted, knowing that their 'guest' would continue to live here.

"Star, stop being rude. Mr. Ferrero is the best painter there is, and I want our portrait to come out perfect." Moon berated, not that the princess paid that much attention to her words. "Plus it was half off for royals when we hired him. So do your best not to turn him away."

"It's alright, your highness. I can't call my work the best if they don't act like themselves. I can take a few nasty comments to the face." He said with no dejection or anger in his tone at all, not even when the bare cob of corn was tossed at his head. "Interesting." Ferrero spoke anomalously as he wrote down more notes in his pad.

* * *

"Wait, so he's still trying to call you, ever after you broke up with him?" Quartz said as the both of them headed towards their beds. "I thought he wouldn't even try after you dumped him in front of all the royals." He glared upward with a little miff in his tone.

"Yeah, Tom's never been the kind of guy to take a hint." Star stated with a hint of shame. "I still can't believe I dated that jerk for two years, even after all you told me about him."

"Don't blame yourself. Tom's a guy who's always on fire, and you were just drawn to his flame. It catches your attention, but like the sun, it can burn you, or.."

"OK, Quartz, I get it, enough fire talk." Star shushed her brother with a single finger. "I'm still the oldest. If anyone here is going to sound smart, it's gonna be me." She picks him up and gently tosses him in his room. " Besides, the only bright person in my life is right in front of me." Quartz, in an act of silliness, points to himself like he was confused on what she meant. "No, the moon outside the window! Of course it's you! Night!" She clarified, leaving the prince to climb into his bed.

Quartz playfully rolled his eyes as he began to close them. "Night bed, night moon, night Star, night creepy shadow at the base of my window." He yawned before drifting off into dream land, not even concern about the last thing he noticed.

Dreams were a wonderful time for the little boy. With everyday always guaranteed to be fulfilling and long, it was nice to retreat to the freedom that sleep allowed. The one thing about his dreams was that they weren't really the most exciting dreams, like the ones that played out with tons of action and explosions to the point where you had to immediately wake someone up in order to prevent yourself from forgetting, nor were they like the ones where you walked through town in your underwear and you died of embarrassment.

His dreams, as weird as his life could get, were really more calm and peaceful, like swimming through the night sky in a lake of warm space water. Sitting down by his Lion's side as he rested his head on Lion's soft pink coat. Or, his personal favorite, just sitting on a mountain top over all of Mewni, on his mom's lap while Star sat on Dad's, all of them embracing each other as the sun rose.

Maybe it was because his life was already like one crazy dream, maybe it was because his life was always full of adventure and magic, that his dreams couldn't do anything to amplify the experience. Whatever the reason, the boy almost never had trouble sleeping. There was nothing to worry about, and he couldn't be happier for it.

 _"Mom_." His dream self interacted with his dream mother. _"Whatever did happen to the Rose Guard?"_ This was the part of the dream that he needed to be a little more 'unrealistic'. Deep down, he knew this was a dream, but it was a question that he never got an answer to in real life, mostly because no one else seem to know either. He figured if maybe he got an answer in his dream, it would point him in the right direction, or at the very least, provide him with some closure to his inquiry.

 _"Interesting."_ His mother responded, though it wasn't with her own voice. She creepily started to pet his head, making the boy slink away from his mother's grasp in discomfort. Likewise, his dream sister began to do so, though her pats seemed to be a little rougher and clammy.

"Dad, can you get them to stop?" He practically begged, growing more and more uncomfortable with each growing moment. He remembered his mom telling him stories on how possessive Star was of him as a baby, and how it could actually be a little scary at times. It at least couldn't have felt as disturbing as this.

" ** _Interesting..."_** The same weird voice came out of the king, reaching out for the boy, curling the ends of his fingers like the were the sharpest of claws. That sick, sinking feeling began to form within the boy's gut, growing more and more as he found himself unable to escape his family grasp.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" The boy finally woke up once he forced himself out of his rest. His took long, deep breaths to calm himself down, finding the little purple man at the foot of his bed, chewing on a bare piece of cob as his stared right into the soul of the prince. "What are you doing here?"

"Watching you sleep, doy." He replied bluntly, having no apology for his actions. "My occupation means I have to break a few laws of courtesy, sue me." He ruled his eyes as he continued to write in his pad. "It's not like you know someone's observing every breathe you take once you're knocked out. By the way, there's about a 15 second period where your breathing stops every 10 minutes. Might want to get that looked at."

The pit in Quartz's stomach refused to leave him know, no matter how much he tried to think of any positives here. "Can you at least observe from a distance?"

"Kid, this is me observing from a distance. I grew up my entire life making sure I never learned the concept of personal space, because when I need to get personal, I make sure to get up close and personal.." The artist flew up right into Quartz's face, cornering him in his own bed. "..no matter how uncomfortable I need to make someone."

* * *

"Star, can I sleep here tonight?" Quartz begged his sister, still half asleep, when he charged into her room, making sure block the door with as much junk he could find.

Still not in for control of her actions, the zombie-like Star snatched up the little prince in her grasp and held him for the rest of the night like a teddy bed, squeezing his little body tightly every hour or so.

Still felt a million times less invasive.

* * *

"So are you sure you don't want Lion to go to the underworld and.." Quartz and Star spoke the next morning after breakfast, swinging around on one of the castle's many chandeliers by their hands. It would probably cost another small fortune to repair any damages, 'but fun can't be fun if things don't get messy', as Ponyhead would often remind the two.

"Hmmm, well that is tempting, don't get me wrong." Star pondered, trying to blow away the hair getting in her face. "As much as that would make me feel better, I can't respond to Tom like that. If I give that guy any attention, he's just going to take it as a sign that I secretly want to get back together with him. The best thing that I can do right now is ignore him until he gets the hint." Both the siblings jump of the ceiling, perfectly landing on ground. "After all, the best way to deal with a problem is to pretend like it doesn't exist."

"Is that how you're able to handle that guy?" Quartz asked, pointing to Mr. Ferrero above them, sniffing the chandeliers like a dog sniffing a bone. "He's been watching us for weeks, and I'm not sure how I feel about something always watching me."

"Relax Quartz, I watched you in your sleep plenty of times." Star happily admitted. "I even drew pictures of it, see?" She handed him pages filled to the brim with crayon marks and drawling's, barely resembling the boy and girl when they were younger. This was able to get a little bit of a smile from him. "This really shouldn't be any different."

"Yeah, but this was back in our childhood, where everything we did was slightly cuter than how we do things now."

"And you're saying that what we do now isn't?"

"No, what I'm trying to say is that this isn't you, or me, or somebody we're comfortable with. It just feels a little too, prying." Star scratches her head. "Look, just pretend that it's mom watching you all the time, silently gawking at you, writing down and looking at every moment in your life, no privacy, no comfort, just cold, lifeless eyes judging you, waiting for any flaws, and mistake that could.."

"Okay, okay!" She shouted in a panic, her hair getting a little wilder from worry. "You've made your point." Quartz smiled proudly. "What?"

"You're really scared of Mom, aren't you?"

"No!" She poorly defended. "Yes, maybe, I don't know. Maybe if you weren't so scary at describing it." She muttered a bit bitterly. "Let's get back on topic. Hey painter guy!" The teen shouted to get the painter's attention, making the man fly down to her level, face to face. "Exactly how much longer do you need to stalk us?"

"Quick to assume, jumps to the assumption, easily takes after father." The man murmured like they weren't even there. "Always energetic unless confronted by something from the mother, always acts like a shield for the brother.." The two continued to stare in upmost confusion. "Oh, sorry about that. Whenever I deep in analysis, I announce my findings out loud no matter where I am. What were you saying?"

Star was a bit bewildered to give back a response, the Quartz's curiosity seemed to spike up. "Really, so do you have any deep and revealing thoughts on me?"

"Of course I do. Let me see here.." He flips through the various pages, showing off many other findings, including suspicions behind the king's scheduled 'lectures', the momentous stress that being a Queen can put on you, the family's favorite type of corn, the pros and cons for giving Star the royal wand. "Ah, here we go, Prince Quartz: youngest in the family, constant urge to always be happy..."

"Ha, that sure does sound like you." Star interrupted, rubbing his head just a little..

"..a constant source for and of affection by everyone around him, mostly pacifistic unless there's no other choice.."

"Hey, if I don't need to beat up a monster, than I shouldn't have to beat up a monster."

"... Does everything he can to defend people, sticks to his sister like glue, both have a mutual loves and respect for each other, happily oblivious to most situations, especially towards anything that involves his actual parents.."

"Wait, what was that last part?" Quartz stopped him this time. He knew that he heard Mr. Ferrero correctly, and that it was his job to learn everything he could about them, but bringing up 'that' thing was always something of an unspoken no-no within the castle.

"Oh, was that something you were unaware of, because if so, It wasn't me who.."

"I've, known about it for quite a while." He said as happily as he could in a very quiet tone.

Star placed her hand on his shoulder, hoping she this wasn't going to lead towards anything bad. "There isn't anything wrong with that, right?" She spat out with a hint of malice in her tone.

"Oh no, not at all." The flying man insisted, casually writing more notes down as he talked. "It's just that whenever I do family paintings, it can be a little harder to anyone in that's not related by blood."

"Harder?" Quartz question with more worry coming out of his mouth. How could something so small actually affect a painting of all things. Artistic logic must be to complex for him to understand.

"Yeah harder, because there's always that little bit that feels a bit off about it." The painter continued to explain, ignore Star's attempts to shut him up. "It's like you have the perfect cookie waiting to be eaten, yet right in the middle of it there's a raisin that got mixed in by mistake.." Star began to franticly search for an explanation for her mother if she suddenly found imbedded in the castle's walls. "..and you do your best to avoid the raisin, always trying to look past it, but fail to do so, since it's so well mixed in, and you bite it anyway, and it's not bad that you eat it, but there's that bad aftertaste you have to deal.."

"Okay, that's enough art lessons for today." Star shoved away the flying man. "Sheesh, take a hint guy, you would think invading people's business for a living would teach him a little tact, right Quartz?" A quick turn of the head revealed that the boy had abandon her by herself. "Quartz?"

The boy didn't go anywhere particular, in fact he ran off in such a hurry he didn't quite know exactly where he went. His heart began to pace at an uncomfortable rate that he didn't know it could reach, and his quick breathing didn't do anything to help him.

Problem, burden, he knew better than to think like that. He just got too curious about 's work and he fell way to deep into it.

Still, the way he worded his sentences couldn't help but strike down at the little prince. It had been a long while ever since he thought about the fact that he was adopted, and that was partly due to the fact that he's been a Butterfly ever since the beginning. He was a baby when Star found him, and he grew up only having the one family that raised him. As far as he was concerned, it was the only family that he needed.

He remembered quite vividly when his mother told him about it all those years ago..

* * *

 **4 _years ago..._**

It was quite a normal day in the castle, as in the Queen quietly tapped her foot in impatience, waiting for the guards to bring back her children. The two had managed to escape her grasp, and once again found themselves in a world of mischief and calamity. Star as of late had been encouraging her brother to be a little more 'outgoing' whenever she had him all to herself, and proceeded to get him involved in who knows what.

It wouldn't be so irritating if she'd wasn't absolutely sure that part of Star's 'encouragement' came from wanting to see whatever magic Quartz showed her the day she found him. She was too excitable and jumpy than any kid her age had any right to be, and the last thing she needed was for Quartz to be the same.

"Many apologizes for my intrusion, my Queen, but we have located and retrieved your children, as per request." The guard lady barged into her room, dumping the two troublemakers, covered in splotches of mud, twigs, and some mysterious third substance she was sure wasn't natural, right in front of her, snapping the Queen out of her thoughts. The eldest of her two children stood proudly, not really showing any sign of fear or regret, while the boy hid as much of himself as he could behind his sister, looking down ashamedly.

The Queen dismissed the guard as she looked over her children with a mixture of anger and relief. If she could, she would keep her daughter on a leash at all times. "Do I even have to ask what you were trying to do?"

"We were just playing around in the mud, no need to be to suspicious." Star said in a confident tone, clearly having no shame for being dirty. Moon had to avoid being splatted by the gunk every time Star took a step forward. "We were grabbing everything we could to make the biggest mud pool in Mewni, but than we ran out of mud, so we tried found the green slime than that was leaking out of a cave.."

"And why were you making a mud pool to begin with?" Moon pressed on, knowing there was more to it. The mud thing itself was yet another matter that she had to deal, but she knew that Star had something else in mind, because nothing this girl does was ever the normal amount of troubling.

"Absolutely nothing at all, I just think things in my life would be better if I had a huge pile of gunk I could dip into whenever I want." The princess defended. "And I might add, I feel quite offended that you would assume.."

"She wanted me to make a big bubble and fill it up with mud." The boy jumped into the conversation out of nowhere, slowly revealing himself while still looking at the ground. "Her idea was to get as much mud as possible and launch it with one of the catapults at the next group of monsters we see." Star began to whistles, hushing at the boy to get him to stop talking. "She told me that it was our duty to protect the castle, and the best way to do it was to beat away any threat that comes our way."

A slightly dismayed, but small smiled surfaced on the Queens face. "At least you're honest about it." The boy returns it, finally looking up from the ground. It never felt good to hide anything from his parents, despite what Star and Ponyhead told him. Weren't fun times better when everybody knows about it? He just couldn't get the appeal of secrets. "Didn't anything else happen?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing happened at all!" Star shouted, hoping to bring the interrogation to a close. Her mother gave her a wide eyed looking, before turning her hear at Quartz once more, knowing the boy would probably spill more than he needed to if she asked. "We were just playing around in the mud, we got all happy and joyful and cute together, both our cheeks began to glow, and before we could do anything else, that guard began sticking her nose in our business and made us freak out and lose our glow. That's all, I swear." The princess huffed out quickly, gladly looking at her brother, knowing her secrets were safe to be exposed another day.

A weird, curious look grew on the mother's face, making an expression the kid's couldn't really read. It held a little bit of anger, a little bit of curiosity, a little bit of surprise. The two didn't know whether or not she was happy or mad at what she just heard. "That's not a bad thing, right? Isn't that just something that we Butterfly's all have?"

The expression on her face changed again quite noticeably, making the kid's all the more worried. Did they just say something wrong. "Star, go to your room, we'll be having a very frank discussion about this monster fighting habit later." The girl nodded in understanding, beginning to walk out of the room with her brother following suite. "Not you Quartz, I need to talk to you alone for a moment."

The two glanced at each other, still very confused on what their mother was thinking. If she was punishing them, than she would've just told them what the punishment was already. Star slowly walked out, silently wishing her brother luck before exiting.

Quartz tried his hardest not to show any intimidation as he approached his mother. It wasn't like he had anything to hide from her, at least nothing that painted himself in a bad light. Star on the other hand, she literally started creating a whole closet full of stuff Star didn't want people to know. He got anxious at the very idea of lying.

Moon's face remained unchanged as he got a little closer, making every second feel longer than they should've. It was time's like this that he understood Star's reluctance to tell their mom about anything. "Quartz.." She began, her voice coming out a bit softer than he expected. "Were both of you're marks glowing at the same time?" Moon questioned.

Was that all she wanted to know about? "Ahh, yeah, I believe so. They stopped glowing at the same time at least." The worry didn't seem to leave the mother's expression. "But I'm Star's brother, wouldn't it be weird if our cheeks didn't glow around each other?"

"Well, under normal circumstances, that would be true." Moon explained as simply as she could. "Past Queen's of Mewni have had siblings before, Solaria with Justin, Crescenta with Dirhhennia, and they've each had their own mark. But your case is a little, different than most.." She further expanded upon.

"Different as in bad?" Quartz fearfully asked.

"Not at all." She reassured, rubbing her hand on his face, ignoring the mud that was now staining her gloves. "Has Star ever told you about how she's the one that 'brought' you into the family?"

Yes, Star said that at least once a week to him. It was a subject that she always liked to bring up, though all she would say was 'You created magic bubbles and we became the most awesome brother/sister duo ever!'. "She's mentioned it once or twice before" He simplified. "I never really knew whether or not she was serious about it."

"Trust me, I know." Moon grunted upon remembering. "Despite how dramatic she can be, she's not stretching the truth about it, as far as I know." Quartz tilted his head at that. Mom usually was the one to poke the wholes in Star's stories. "When you were an infant, she found you in the middle of the woods, all alone."

Quartz took in this revelation a bit slowly, not really sure what to make of it, or what it really meant. "So does that mean Star's my mother?"

"YES!" Star shouted, revealing she had been listening in the entire time, outside the room, pointing at her mother a bit self-righteously. "I kept telling you..!"

"Aren't you suppose to be in your room?" Her mother corrected without flinching, stopping whatever rant the princess was about to make, making her pout as she exited their sight once more. "I can't tell you how long it took to get her to stop saying that. Anyway, You two bonded almost instantly, strongly, practically inseparable. Literally nothing we tried would tear you apart." She continued own, choosing her words very carefully, knowingly leaving out some of the more 'painful' truths. "So strong, that the magic between you two became intertwined. You meant so much to her, and to me, and your father, so we took you in as our own." She smiled, hoping that what she said wasn't to much for him to handle.

The prince was silent for almost a full 40 seconds. "Didn't you say that magic was what makes the universe work?"

Moon blinked in confusion. "Uh, I'm sure those aren't the words I used, but I suppose soo.."

"And it was magic that bonded me with Star, right?"

"That's a very over simplified explanation for it, but yes.."

"Then that means the universe made all of us family!" Quartz concluded excitedly.

"Yes, but.." Moon tried to explain more, though she found herself having trouble getting out what she wanted to say, especially seeing Quartz becoming so elated by his somewhat faulty logic. There was a whole lot more she needed to say, but also just as much that she needed to stay silent for now. "I can't argue with that." She relented, smiling wide as Quartz jumped on her a gave her a hug. "Okay, that's enough, you're getting mud on my attire." Quartz, out of blissful ignorance, didn't let go. "Seriously Quartz, let go.." The hug got deeper and tighter, making the mud spread even more. "Quartz!"

* * *

"Reminiscing deeply about your place in the universe, are we?" And old, wise sounding voice came up from behind him. Stuck in his own mind for a while, the prince nearly falls over in shock, thrown off by the sudden intrusion. No one was around him, and the only thing in front of him was a familiar, old, and large book that sparked awe in the little boy.

The book of spells, as well as the Butterfly's entire family history, was something the boy had only glanced it in passing whenever his Mom had it in hand. He wondered as to why something so important was laying around, but that was pushed to the side when her leaned over to open it.

He only opened the cover before something weird happened. The boy watched in silence as the book began to flip by itself, rising from it's pages a tiny blue man wearing a robe. "Are you that surprised? I'm pretty sure this isn't the weirdest thing that you've ever seen."

The boy picks himself up, clearing his throat once he recollects himself. "Um, you're Glossaryck, right? The tiny man that lives in my mom's book?"

"Okay, that's only scratching the surface of who I am, but by all means, yes." The floating wise man replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Wait, why are you here, why is the book just abandoned right now, why isn't Mom looking for it, and why.."

"Quartz, Quartz, my dear prince, life has many mysteries to it, many questions that lead to the unknown and unexplored, so today's question shouldn't be about why I'm here right now.." The man deflected from the topic, getting real close to the Prince. "..the real question we need to ask right now, is why are _you_ here right now?"

Not noticing the man's subtle manipulation, Quartz took a moment to think about what he just said. "Mr. Ferrero said something about me being in the family portrait makes it harder for him to work with." Quartz answered very quickly. "And not that I don't have very fond memories of everything, but.."

"The artist saying that reminded you that you aren't related to the Butterflys by blood, so you ran and had a flashback to help balance out your emotional turmoil." Glossaryck answered very bluntly, to which Quartz could only nodded in confirmation. It still hurt to have it be said out loud, but it was the truth. "How does history keep repeating itself?"

"What?"

"Nothing, just having my own flashbacks." Glossaryck replied back with a tone of dejection, before changing his tone to a much lighter one. "Listen kid, I can see your bummed out, so I'm going to help you out with a little bit of wisdom. After all, helping Butterflys is what I'm meant to do."

"Really?" Quartz said with his usual excitement returning to his voice. Glosseryck, from what he could remember, was as old as the universe itself. "Does that me you'll answer anything I ask for?"

"I'll tell you what you need to know." He answered back. "But I'm going to need something in return." Quartz tilted his head at that. "What, I need to charge you something, like you said, you're technically not a Butterfly.

Ouch. Okay, that didn't really mix well with what he just told him a second before that. "Sure, what do you need?"

"What I need is pudding. Tons and Tons of pudding." He leaned over Quartz's head, very serious in his expression. "I can't function properly until I have my daily dose of pudding."

"Okay, weird request, but sure." Quartz agreed, heading off towards the kitchen in search of his gooey prize. Not to shame pudding lovers, but he thought their were better desserts out there. Cake, Cornshakes, a nice Cookie Cat, but everyone has their own tastes, so who was he to judge?

As he headed towards the desserts, he pondered what he would ask the tiny man. Could he ask him about how the universe was made? What was the purpose of life? How was the dark everywhere if nothing was faster than light? "Could I ask where the Rose Guard went?" He pondered about that. Nah, if he knew that, than he probably would've told someone by this point.

"Quartz?" Star came up from right behind him, carrying a unhealthy amount of cake on a plate she was holding. "You ran off earlier, you alright?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm find." He said with a bit of a shrug, grabbing onto his pudding like nothing was going on. It wasn't like what Glossaryck was asking him to do was wrong, so there was no reason to be afraid of anything. "I'm just grabbing this for someone." He replied as he tried to walk pass her, though she stayed in his way.

"Good, good, I just don't want you to hold onto any more junk than you need to." Star replied with a soft expression, placing a hand on his shoulder. " You know it's never bothered me that you're adopted, right? What we have is stronger than blood." Where was this calmness on his fifth birthday? Things probably would've ended up being a lot less chaotic if she confronted him like this back then. "I mean, if you can't connect with the baby that saved your life, what can you connect with, am I right?" She winked.

He replied by pressing his right hand against her chest for a full 20 seconds before leaving her sight once more. It was very comforting to know Star still watched out for him, even with her about to get the wand in about a year.

"Alright kid, show me what you got." Glossaryck demanded from the prince, who gladly presented the man with a large cup of the chocolate goo. "Pudding is another one of those weird mysteries that'll never be solved. A strange substance, stuck in the limbo between the states of matter, not quite a solid, yet not quite a liquid either." The man dunked his hand into the cup, scooping out a large amount of the substance, slowly gnawing on it as he continued to talk. "I mean, it's slimy enough, so how come no one ever drinks pudding with a straw?"

"I thought the point of this was for me to ask you questions, not for you to give me one?" The boy said a little confused, trying hard not to be turned off by the blue man's messy eating habits. "Not to rush you or anything."

"Well, what I said was that I would tell you what you need to know now as long as I have pudding.." Glossaryck corrected as he ate another handful. "And I got half a cup of pudding left, so shoot."

The butterflies in his stomach began to increase the nervousness he was feeling, knowing he might mess this up if he wasted a second on the wrong question. "Okay, so I got to ask, was being found by Star fate or an accident?" He finally settled on.

The floating man took a second to lick his lips before continuing to speak. "Well, that depends on your definition of the word 'fate', because by all means, it was a complete accident." Again, ouch. Quartz didn't know the proper response to that, mostly because he was too busy trying to figure out how the old man could say that so seriously with a mouth full of goop. "Destiney implies there's a fixed set of direction one has to go on no matter what they do, but more often than not, people forget that there's a way to derail the course they're on."

The little tried his hardest to grasp every word the wise man kept telling him, he really did. "Uh, I'm not sure where you're going with this?" He's only 8 for Pete's sake. He couldn't solve a riddle on a popsicle if his life depended on it.

Glossaryck sighed as he ate another scoop. "The youth and their ignorance. A gift, and a curse. Okay kid, imagine life is like a train, and the track you ride on is your entire lifespan. When people have a fixed idea of fate and destiny, they unintentionally lock themselves on a one way track that goes straight for miles and miles, with no way to deviate. However, people tend to forget that, as the conductors of our own trains, we can have control over what we do, we set the paths we need to go own." The blue man finishes as he starts to lick the corners of his cup slowly. "Get the picture now, kid?"

"I think I do?" He questioned mostly himself. "So Star finding me was an accident.." The blue man nodded his head silently with a smile, motioning him to continue. "...yet the actions that were taken after she found me made it fate?"

"Eh, your reasoning is a bit choppy at best, but lets go with a yes." Glosseryck concluded.

Quartz didn't know if that made him feel better, or worse. It still sounded like he was overcomplicating things just to make him even more confused. Though, the Prince at least started to grasp the concept of what he was saying. "I guess that clears things up for me, I think. Thanks." He said with a slightly dejected shrug.

"No problem." Glossaryck replied back, scrapping the bottom of the cup for the last of the chocolate sweetness. "I should tell you, though, there's nothing wrong with bringing a little deviation from the course of the Butterfly's train, it's actually quite welcoming." A brief lightness came to the boy. Now this was something he knew was positive. "I mean, considering where you come from, a well needed change was sure to come."

Huh? "What, what did you just say?" He didn't, could he know, what, did, did he just imply what he thought he did.

"I said how welcomed the change is considering where you.." Glossaryck continued to explain further, only stopping once he realized something, staring at the boy a little weirdly. "Oh, you don't know about that yet, do you?" Yep, that confirmed everything, as well as destroy whatever lightness the boy had left. "Huh, wouldn't have put it off for this long if you asked me."

"Wait, do you know, do you know where I came from?" Quartz said, the calmness leaving his voice, being replaced with a more shaky and anxiety filled one. "D-oo, do you know who my parents are?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you look like a Steve?" Glossaryck shifted the subject out of no where, with a new, cheerful smile to boot. "Because the name fits you perfectly."

"No, no, no!" The boy shouted. The frustration up to this point had finally reached it's peak. "I heard you clearly! What do you know about me!?"

"Whoa, whoa, Steve, calm down now." Glosseryck tried to explain while slowly floating backwards, not that it did him any good.

"You know what you said!" The boy continually accused as he started to get uncomfortable close to the man. "Tell me what you know that I don't!"

"Well, that's quite a large number of things, so to take the time to list everything would take a large while to.." Glossaryck continued to stall.

"Stop being so confusing and vague!" Quartz snapped louder. "Stop messing with me and TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!"

"Quartz, what's with all the yell.." The Queen stepped in almost out of nowhere as the two turned their heads towards them. Moon's expression turned from worry to scowling once she saw the book and Glossaryck on the ground. "What are you doing here Glossaryck?" She asked in a stern huff.

"I know I shouldn't have gone off, but in my defense, I really needed some pudding." The Blue man lamely excused himself as he rested himself in the books pages. "And with that said, my time here is up. Remember what I said todaaaa.." He waved at the prince before letting the book close in on itself, still leaving the boy as frustrated as ever, even as the mother picked up the book.

"I swear, he get's stranger with every princess that's born." Moon sighed as she turned to put the book away, only to stop once she felt her son tugging on her dress. "Quartz?"

"I, I still need to speak to him." Quartz said with big eyes, giving her the biggest pleading look she had ever seen. "He was just about to tell me something important, he was.."

"Quartz, Glosseryck is a bit complicated, especially when it comes to his teachings." Moon explain, with Quartz face getting more disappointed with every second. "Did he ask you to get pudding for him first."

"Well, yeah, but he still.."

"He's been prying for pudding for the past few week Quartz. Why do you think he was out here in the hall to begin with?" Quart stopped talking, knowing that he couldn't argue with the logic presented. "He wouldn't have told you anything specific that you wanted to know." Moon up and left as soon as she was done, leaving Quartz feeling a little more empty than he thought he was.

"He knows, he knows.." Quartz teared up, fighting the urge to cry as he walked out of the hall.

* * *

It had taken him the better part of two and a half months, but at last, the painter known as Atelier de Colbat Ferrero was near completion of his latest master piece. The Queen proved to be the most difficult to observe, being the least open of the royal family, but he managed to get it perfect, just like all his other works.

The last thing he need to do know was to have the family pose for him one final time to finish up any leftover details. It was a long process, but it paid big, provided him with yet another roof over his head, and yet another master piece got to be completed.

Which was why the Prince's sudden request for a complete change of the painting irked him to no end. "Are you kidding me!?"

"No, not really." Quartz sheepishly requested, trying to be a quiet about it as possible. "You, you said that the painting was harder to fit me in, so can't you just, I don't know, erase me from it all together?"

"Oh yeah, let me just go down to Quest buy and pick up the latest paint eraser so that I can erase an entire month's worth of my work!" The flying man replied dryly. The Prince, however, didn't catch on that he was being sarcastic.

"Oh, so you can do it?"

"No! I don't just undo my work! I don't trace back, I don't change it, I'm given a job, and I do it the way I see it!" He yelled back, before taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

"Sorry for asking you to do something you hate, then. I, I didn't know." Quartz said sincerely, raising an eyebrow from the painter. "I, it's just, you told me that me being in the picture made things feel a little off, so I thought if the picture needed to be perfect, than I should be cut out of it altogether."

This was the last thing the painter needed to hear right now. "Kid, I, how do I put this?" He rubbed his face in contemplation for about a minute, before turning back the saddened boy. "First of all, all my paintings come out perfect, which is why I was hired to make it, so shame on you for not realizing it." The boy gave him a questioning glare. What's with the short, flying people with the vague insults that are suppose to sound helpful?

"I've painted a number of things over the years, I've painted animals, plants, people, monsters, buildings, explosions, wars in progress, secrets, private moments, public moments, you name it. And the one thing that's always consistent with what I make is that I'm able to capture what it is I'm making, perfectly."

"Are, are you really just bragging about your work now?"

"Mostly likely, but the point I'm trying to make here is that this picture won't be complete if your not in it." The man sternly spat out as Quartz leaned forward to understand better. "When I make family paintings, I can tell what's family, and what's not, and kid, whether or not your related by blood, I can see that your family, and it would be impossible to complete this thing without you in it."

Quartz remains a little speechless at his statement. "Wow, Mr. Ferrero, thanks for saying that, I, I really needed to here that." He smiled grew bigger. "And you didn't just say that to me to make me feel better?"

"I'm just stating what I've observed kid, no need to look too deeply into what I said." The man bluntly clarifies as he turns his back. "Besides, I hate having to redo any of my work, so you would still be in the painting regardless.

Quartz rolled his eyes with a shrug, knowing that he shouldn't press for more than he needed right now.

Soon the whole family was standing as still as they could in front of the painter, dressed in their most elegant of clothing while patiently waiting for the whole thing to be over. The siblings still found themselves able to talk to each other, making sure to whisper as quietly as they could whenever the painter was distracted enough. "So your good for real this time? Like ice cream on cake good, not 'I'll still focus on my problems' good, right?"

"Ice cream cake good." Quartz responded to his sister wholeheartedly with a warm smile. "I'm sorry for being a bit of a bummer, but that's, I know.."

"You don't have to say anything about it." Star reassured "It's weird, our family situation is weird, but that just means there's more to love about it. But.." she trailed off for a bit, trying to figure out how to best word her next statement without bumming him out again. "We can look into this family thing if you want to."

Quartz wasted no time to give a response. "Nope, no, I'm done on that front. Everything started to get confusing and mixed up the moment I started thinking I wasn't a Butterfly." He pauses for one final huff. "I think things will be better if I stop thinking about it all together." He then gives Star a knowing glance. "Pretend the problem doesn't exist and all that." Star immediately reached for her brother's curly hair, though he hand was shot down by her mother before she could even take it off her side. "But I'm never going to Glossaryck for advice again." His face grows a scowl before letting it go.

"Don't worry Quartz, he's going to be my teacher once I get the wand." She reassures before both of them turn their heads forward once more. "You'll never have to go near him again."

* * *

 _Next time: Cat fingers_


	15. Cat Fingers

**Aha! Finally, got around to finishing this chapter. And just in time for Battle of the Heart and Mind! Thank you all for your continued support.**

 **Shadow 13-Well, I would do that, if this was a loud house crossover, but it's not. I'm keen on keeping this a Steven Universe/Star vs story, so no other characters from other shows will appear/cameo unless I can think of a good reason for them to be in the story. Sorry.**

 **Guest- Absolutely. In a future chapter, I plan on showing Rose's relationships with the former Queens, specifically Justen and Solaria.**

* * *

On any other day, the sounds of shouting and weapons clanking would be enough to startle Marco. Granted, this seemed to happen on an daily basis nowadays, but it didn't hurt to be a little aware of incoming danger.

Though today's chaos, for the moment at least, seemed to be contained. As Star greeted her brother, who had convinced their mother to spend the weekend at the Diaz residence, the two of them hit things off like their past encounters, endless hugging, endless praising, along with the occasional explosion or two.

The two magical siblings had begun talking about how their respective weeks had gone, Quartz talking about their dad's impromptu 'camping trip' he went own after a monster managed to get his hands on the king's crown, while Star went back and forth on whether or not her 'turbo nuclear butterfly blast' or her 'cataclysmic total extinction death blast' was more effective. The conversation was taken to the next level when Star got more curious on what sort of stuff Quartz was learning with their mother, which lead to him suggesting they give each other a more 'visual' representation.

Which was what lead both brother and sister to 'challenge' each other to a magical duel, both of them showing the other what they've learned, while at the same time taking in some extra 'training'.

Marco watched with a shrug as he witnessed the grand event the royal siblings made for themselves, sitting right next to him was Quartz's friend Connie, easily the most excited about witnessing the magical spectacle other then the prince and princess themselves. "Watch, watch out, duck, throw, look out for that.." Connie elatedly shouted as she struggled to keep herself glued to the ground. "How are you not more excited about this! What's wrong with you!?" She genuinely asked with excitement oozing out of her eyes.

"Star created a black whole on the first day we meant that almost sucked me into an enteral dark and empty abyss." Marco said with a casual shrug. "Stuff like this makes you patient for the real excitement, which will come, jus you wait."

"No, no, I could never get use to this." She admitted with a shaky voice, still very excited, but with a bit of nervousness. "My life not exactly the most eventful thing in the world. The only escape from reality I have is in my favorite book series, _Unfamiliar Familiar,_ but now I can actually have the chance to escape it with those scissors you guys have." The girl squees once more with her blood pumping exponentially. "Don't tell me you haven't wanted something more exciting in your life?"

The school safe kid could only roll his eyes in acknowledgement. "Point taken." Marco, within a quick second, ducks both Connie's and his own head as a shield came hurdling pass them. "But something a little more boring wouldn't hurt either."

"Sorry!" The prince offered quickly, having no time to show his sincerity as he dodged another blast of purple energy from the family's heirloom. A rush of happiness soon returned to his face as another brightly pink shield was summoned over his forearm, deflecting the stream as he moved in a little closer.

While the boy loved his mother, and thanked her greatly for all the time she was putting aside to train him, even the respectful prince had to say that the sessions, while helpful, had the tendency to be a little stiff and, dare he say it, boring to go through at times. Lately, the Queen had raised the standards, looking more at specific results rather than big bursts of power, so a triple exploding bubble bomb became less impressive as they continued.

Training with Star helped relieve both younglings of any stress that had been building up, Star's also stemming from their mother's watchful eye, who's suspicions have been increasing as of late, mostly due to the princess's insistence of calling her as little as possible. She wasn't even aware of Ludo's constant pinning for the magic wand, a little factoid that Star knew would get her dragged back to Mewni.

So for them to have this one moment together, without any restrictions, limits, or standards, just a brother and sister having unsupervised fun, was an opportunity neither sibling was going to waste. "Come on, Quartz! We've loosened our muscle's long enough, let's really get serious!" She delightfully chanted, twirling her body as she casted another spell. "Crystal dagger heart!"

"Hehe, Bubble Bounce Bump!" Quartz shouted with equal excitement, throwing two small bubbles to the ground, jetting him in the air by a good 10-15 feet above his sister. Throwing a sly look to Star as he hung above her, another bubble encased around him as he began falling like an anvil into the sea. Star, of course, dodged her brother's attack, stumbling as she felt the vibrations of Quartz's landing.

"Ha, they may be boring, but I got to hand it to Mom; her lessons look like they're paying off." She complimented before blasting another Narwhal Blast. "Those bubbles are still amazing."

Quartz held out his shield again against the blast, losing it again once he was done protecting himself, now starting to feel a little strain. "They're still too weak." He huffed out, breathing really had to catch his breath again.

"Weak? How are exploding bubbles weak?" Star questioned with clear surprise. "I swear if this is another one of mom's safety lectures at work again..."

"No, no, I'm not trying to be cautious, not to much anyway.." The boy explained. "Apparently, the whole exploding bubble thing isn't suppose to happen, and is a side effect of magic overload or something. I can't make a bubble long enough without having it explode or pop."

"Pfftt.." The princess scoffed. "Only in my Mom's world can she make exploding bubbles seem like a bad thing. I mean, if your bubbles aren't suppose to explode, what's the point of making bubbles at all? SHINEY EMERALD SNAKE STRIKE!" Star's tone made a complete 180 and blasted at her brother once more, to which Quartz blocked with another shield that quickly dissipated. "And that shield of yours seems strong enough to me."

"Yeah, but it takes a lot out of me to summon it anymore than two times, it's pretty exhausting." The sweat on the boy's face spoke volumes as he attempted to walk towards Star, who simply walked backwards with a mischievous smirk. "What are you planning?"

"Aww, is my baby bro-bro all tuckered out now?" Star purposely belittled, making Quartz blush upon hearing Connie's chuckles. "Don't worry, little brother, I'll be sure to take care of you.." She said with a happily creepy voice, causally aiming her wand at her brother. "Terror Tickle Tackle!" A bright glowing green hand bursts from the object, blasting towards the young boy, who embraced for impact. "Don't worry, I made this extra special for you.

"HAHA NO, HAHA, NO, PLEASE, STOP!" Quartz burst in tears, laughing at his sister's 'attack', which brought him down to his knees, unable to keep a steady balance. "I, I..., Please just stop..." He kept on shouting, his laughter becoming more and more uncontrollable.

Star held a satisfied smirk as she watched over her victory in glee. "Just say that I win, and I'll end your suffering." She said in a mock evil tone, cheerfully smiling as she continued to point the wand at him. "We both know I'm the greatest, what's one more admission goin to hurt?"

Managing to fight off the giggles for a quick second, Quartz used whatever strength he had left to summon another bubble in hand. "Ne-never, y-ou, you villain!" He played along with a weak and tired smile, throwing the bubble pass his sister, seemingly missing it's target. "I win."

"Maybe I did my job a little too well?" Star said in confusion, not sure why her brother claimed victory so late, only to gasp as the wand fell right out of her hand. The bubble that flew past Star bounced off a section of the fence behind her, returning and hitting her arm from behind. "Okay, first, cool, very cool, and second, OW!" She stated as she rubbed her hand. "But I can still pick up the wand, you know."

"Not if I can say anything about it, Connie, NOW!" Quartz, turning all attention to the dark skinned girl. Not giving a second to explain themselves, Connie eagerly smiled as she pulled up a small, plastic gun that was sitting right behind her, and tossed it to the boy. The prince quickly got back to his feet and claimed the object from the air. "Aha, and now, behold your watery demise!" The boy laughed as he began dosing large amounts of water at his sister, who could only beg to her brother to cease his attack.

"You win, you win, I said it already, you win!" She admitted defeat over and over again. This is what they both needed, no real magical training or test or anything of the sort would allow water-guns, and that was just a shame, a shame that really needed to be corrected.

Despite proving to be a well executed distraction, Star was able to concentrate just enough to grab her wand again, rolling her way out of the water and preparing for a final strike. "Mega Starfish Tsunami!" A huge wave, filled to the brim with the tiny sea creature rushed out of the wand, furiously flowing out as Quartz could only take it in the face as best he could.

"I told you, if things were really serious, these two probably would've opened a whole to the earth's center by now." Marco spoke to the girl once again as both prepared to be drenched, having no time to brace for impact. Everyone now was having a good laugh at what happened, showing how much fun they were really having, though the two non-magic teens didn't notice one of the house tiles beginning to loosen right above them.

"Have anything left in the tank, or are you ready to call it quits?" Star suggested once the laughter had died down. Even with monsters constantly fighting them, there really wasn't a time where she could let herself unwind like that. Ludo's minions weren't exactly a challenge after firing who-knows-how-many narwhals. Not that she wanted to go all out on her brother, but he at least new how to handle something crazy being hurled at him.

"Nah, I'm good." Quartz admitted, ripping off a Starfish that had landed on his face. "Let's just call this a dra.." His speech stammers as he turns back to Connie and Marco, who were both trying to drain as much of the water from their clothes, and were still very unaware of the tile, barely hanging from a thread on the roof. "Look out!"

The teen boy, knowing fully well to get out of the way as fast as he could (especially if magic was involved in any capacity) complied without a problem, while Connie, ever so curious, turned and searched for what she needed to avoid, only thinking to look up as the tile began to fall. The girl stood there, too shocked to make another move, and completely out of time to do anything about it. Quartz ran, completely on instinct, to get his friend out of danger, stretching out his hand as far as he could, as far as his body would allow him, to shove Connie away.

SMACK CRACK

Connie soon found herself on her back with an 'umph' as the tile splintered into dozens of pieces upon hitting the ground. The only thing that Connie could see in front of her was Quartz's armored hand above her face, getting her out of the way just in time. "Haheha, wow, that, that came out of nowhere." She tried to brush off her embarrassment. "I, be glad my mom's not here, she probably would've tried suing your house for safety violation, or at the very least give a strongly worded phone call." Her attempt to clear the air didn't work, as everyone remained quiet. "Sorry for not moving earlier, but why isn't..." She tried to question her friends on their silence, though as she returned to her feet, she soon got her answer.

Quartz did manage to shove Connie out of the way, but how he did left the other three jaw dropped. The boy arm was stretched out a good 14, maybe 17 feet longer than it's usual length, as seen by the exposed flesh stretched out before them. Connie, rightly freaked out, dropped the part of Quartz's hand she was holding on to in a yelp, making the extended limb fall down with a weak dud. "Is this cool or gross? It feels more like a gross thing, but I'm hoping for cool."

"Definitely gross/cool." Marco and Star spoke at the same time, though only Star continued to talk. "You saved somebody, and unleased a new power, how is that not cool?" She gently pokes the extended limb over and over. "Hehe, still so soft and plushy."

Connie, after shaking off the shock, slowly walked over to the boy, and gently rubbed his arm with curiosity. "Do you feel alright? I, I hope I didn't force you into anything bad, since well, you pushed me to safety."

"No it's fine." Quartz reassured. "This doesn't feel bad at least, just a little weird and new, even for me." He attempted to raise him arm up, struggling to keep it steady as he tried to walk backwards. "All I need to do is get this thing closer to me.." losing control of his arm, it flew over his head, causing him to fall on his back at the added weight above him. The three onlookers could only watch with a mixture of worry and amusement as the prince struggled to get ahold of his elongated appendage. "Okay, I might need a hand with this."

"Your in luck bro, I already know how to take care of this!" Star shouted, pointing her want as she prepared to fire. "Returnio Armio Norma.."

"Wait, wait, wait, WAIT!" Marco pointed the wand done to get Star's attention. "Are you absolutely sure that's the right thing to do right now? Remember what happened the last time someone's arm got mixed in with magic?" Memories of a sore arm surfaced, making the teen rub it uncomfortably.

Star would've retorted with a scoff remark, only to pause once she took another look at Quartz, struggling to pick himself up even with Connie's help. "Fine, we'll push this thing aside for now." Star hung the wand on her side as she helped Connie get Quartz back on his feet. "I think I have something else, but you're really not going to like it Quartz."

The boy gave it a seconds thought as his arm fell limp on the ground once more, making him lean to the right. "It's got to be more comfortable than this."

* * *

"I take it back." The prince bitterly mumbled as he had no choice but to hold out his arm before Glossaryck as they entered Star's room. Nobody in the group was particularly enthused by calling upon the blue man's advice again. "I mean, what's the worse your spell's going to do, give me a third arm? There's worse fates to be had you know."

"I know, I know, this isn't exactly your favorite thing to do, so blame Marco for this." She accused, getting a short 'hey' in response. "He's the one who said _'no magic_ '."

The four decided to remain quiet as Glossaryck continued to observe the extended limb that laid before him. His bored expression didn't help to ease anyone's worries. "Well, there's nothing I can do here. We just have to amputate the arm and hope for the best. Star, you're able to conger something sharp enough, right?"

"No, no, no way we're doing that!" Quartz immediately protested in fear before anyone else could. The nervousness and stress increased ten-fold as he pulled his arm back. "Why.." He began to rant at the Blue man, only to stop as a faint pink glow surrounded the entire limb. Slowly, the arm slithered backward, decreasing in size until it returned to it's normal chubby size. "How.."

"HAha, knew that would work." Glossaryck patted himself on the back before floating back down to his book. "Fear and agitation, arguably one of life's greatest motivators."

While Quartz remained in a state of relief and irritation, Star was still left with a few questions. "While we're BOTH very thankful for helping out.." Quartz grunted like an angry hog in response. "..can you explain exactly what just happened?"

"Oh, just a simple body elongation, nothing too major in terms of magic, though one of the more trickier things to master." He hardly seemed to pay the kids much attention as he continued to explain. "Quartz's body and mind needs to be as loose and mailable as possible for it to happen, so all I had to do was stress him out long enough for his body to retract itself, you're welcome by the way."

Quartz rolled his eyes, knowing that as annoyed as he was at the tiny wise man, he did indeed deserve a 'thank you'. Fortunately for him, Marco talked before he could. "Wait, so your saying he has the power of stretchy noodle arms?"

"It's not just magical stretchy noodle arms, that would be ridiculous." Glossaryck corrected. "He could stretch out his arms, legs, shoulders, fingers, head, really any part of his body." Star and Connie began starring at the prince with newly sparked awe in their eyes, while Quartz did the same by staring at his own hands, imagining that kind of magical power at his palms. "And if he really wanted to, he could completely change his complete shape with only a thought."

Connie's eyes widen upon realization. "Are you telling us that Quartz can actually shapeshift? Turn into other people and creatures and all that?"

"Nail to the coffin." Glosseryck confirmed. "You chose a smart one, Steve." Star snickered at that comment while the two younger ones were left confused. "Hands into swords, feet into puppies, all that good stuff. Now bye!" Before anyone could blink, the tiny man abruptly dived into the spell book like it was a pool, and disappeared into the pages.

"Wait, what about.." Quartz called out, only to resend his questions. "Eh, on second thought, I've had my fill of Glosseryck for today." His tone eventually returned to a more light and happy one. "On that note, I have a new ability!"

"Oh heck yeah! That's my bro for ya!" Star complimented as she brought her brother close to her side. "You and me, discovering magical abilities together, just like it should always be!" Without warning, she began tugging at his arms as hard as she could. "Come on guys, let's stretch him out like taffy."

Quartz was equally as excited to test out his new power, and after he pulled away from his sister's grip, he prepared to stretch out his limbs once more. With a fierce determination, Quartz shut his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could, his face growing a slight tint of red as he did. He let out a small breath of air once he got tired enough. "Nada."

"Okay, we're clearly missing something here. What did we do before that you're not doing now?" The princess pondered for a quick second before snapping her fingers. "I got it! Connie, jump out the window so that my brother can save you!"

Of course, the girl was less than eager to put herself in danger. "WHAT?!" Marco began to put himself between Star and Connie to put some distance between them, just in case.

"Star, we shouldn't get too carried away here." Quartz chimed in with a worried voice. He hoped this wasn't one of those things he had to go back to his mother with and reprimand. She had enough trouble staying off the radar as it is. "I don't want to intentionally hurt her. Or unintentionally for that matter."

Star nods, as if she understood what she actually suggested. "Right, right, I shouldn't put the future girlfriend in harm's way. Marco, you jump out the window instead!" She said with upmost excitement without another second's thought.

"...I think what he's trying to say.." Marco cautiously talked down Star, not before unconsciously moving himself and Connie as far away from the window as possible. "...is I that we should think of another way around this, preferably one that avoids steep ledges of any kind."

"Glosseryck mentioned that this was one of the harder things to do, and that his he needed to be loose and mailable." Connie pondered deeply. "So what else was Quartz doing before, besides saving me?"

"Nothing we don't normally do, play with each other, help each other be even more amazing, if that's even possible." Star chips in with a fond smile, resting the upper half of her body on Quartz's head. She then crouches down to his height, massaging his forehead in a soothing pattern. "We were having fun right, stretching out our abilities, being awesome, right Quartz?"

"We are pretty awesome." Quartz responded with a relaxed smile, feeling more calm and secure by his sisters touch. "Everyday we spend together really is a gift." Quartz's muscles began to lose the tension that they built up from all the training, any aches he had was an after thought in all the comfort he found in his position. It was like his body was held together by screws, and they all just suddenly loosened...

"Ha! Knew that would work." Star gloated as her method yielded the desired results. A familiar pink glow encompassed his arm, elongating itself only 3 feet this time, which the prince was more than happy about.

"Star, how did you.." Marco asked with some surprise. Not that Star was a ditz or anything (if she was, then she wouldn't be so handy and creative with her spells), but it was a bit unlike her to come up with a solution to this sort of problem so quickly.

"Glossaryck said that he needed to stress him out to make him normal, so making him unstressed gave him back his noodle arm, duh." Marco still held his confusion. "It's only half the time I don't know what I'm doing. The other half I just pretend not to know about and hope for the best outcome. But when it comes to my brother, I always give 100%, just so you know." Star added, feeling her friend's questioning gaze on her.

Marco's small revelation into Star's psyche unfortunately was tossed to the side as Quartz began to utilize his extended limb once more. "All right!" He excitedly cheered on, being able to control and lift this arm a whole lot better. "I can finally touch the top of your head without jumping!" He demonstrates his touching abilities by scuffling her hair, just as she had done many times in the past.

"Oh yeah, two can play at that game!" Star smirked evilly once more, giving the large limb a small but painful pinch, making it retract immediately. "I still hold power over you! I gave you that arm, and I can take it away!"

"No fair, I was just getting good at that!" Quartz complained, though his smile betrayed this. "What else did Glossaryck say I could do with shapeshifting? Changing parts of my body?"

"Yeah, yeah! Its a really, really fascinating ability that has a large quantity of uses, becoming bigger, stronger, longer, even changing yourself into someone different so you look like someone that's not socially awkward and can easily walk up to somebody without feeling nervous or.." Connie rambled on, the three wisely deciding to not interrupt. Once she finally heard the words coming out of her mouth, she slapped her hands over her lips, cementing them shut until the blush went away. "It's just something I fantasize. A lot about." She quickly and quietly admitted.

"The looking like someone different thing does sound pretty cool! Think of all the amazing things you can turn into! Like a manticore on the hunt.." Star imagined all sorts of scenarios, each one potentially more dangerous then the next. "..Or an ogre prying away intruders, or a fire breathing dragon with a blazing trail..."

"Or something a little more tame and manageable to handle, just to be on the safe side." Marco suggested, getting a questioning look from Star, who know he was trying to reel things back. "Just saying."

"You mean like a mountain lion?" Quartz immediately thought of.

"Something smaller, like really, really smaller." Marco barked back a little irritably. The teen wasn't exactly the biggest fan of Quartz's pink pet, so naturally, the sight of another large feline would be a little uncomfortable for him.

"Ooh, try a fluffy pink cat then!" Star suggested excitedly. "I've always wanted to live my life as an adorable kitty. Taking Star's suggestion to heart, the boy concentrated as hard as he could, making beads of sweat pour down. "Remember, relax, little bro. Feel my relaxing voice relaxing you. Go with your funky flow."

"I haven't said that in years." The collective chuckle from everyone helped ease Quartz into a more comfortable state of mind. With a steady breath, Quartz loosed every grip in his hands, all the tension that was in his arms went limp as the young boy pictured the cutest cat that he could imagine. "Okay shapeshifting, change me!" Quartz shouted to the air, expecting something grand to appear. The three spectators stepped away to make room, only to find nothing had occurred. "Aww, I thought I really had it that time."

Meow.

"Oooh, good idea Quartz." Star dropped on her arms and knees. "Maybe if we all started acting like cats, we'll be able to set the mood." She started meow as she raised a 'paw' while sticking out her tongue. "What? Just getting into character."

Meow.

"Thanks, but that wasn't me." Quartz admitted, being a little freaked out. The meows started to get louder and louder, causing everyone to turn their heads to find the source. Nothing around them, nothing below or above, but the meows began to feel like they were getting closer. "This is the normal amount of weird right?" Quartz asked himself as he raised his hand to his forehead, feeling the soft fur across his head as he..

"Meow." Feeling his heart stop for a second, the prince slowly raised his arms back down, half expecting his assumption to be wrong. To his surprise and slight horror, a tiny white head with pointy ear replaced more than half of his left index finger. "Meeerrr"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Was the first thing that came into Quartz's mind, as was the same with Connie, Marco, and Star once they gazed at the misplaced head that weirdly stayed calmed throughout all the noise.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHThat is so amazing!" Star was mostly screaming because everyone else was doing it.

"I know right! It's like a pet for my pocket, except it's always on my finger!" Quartz, once all the shock left his system, agreed whole heartedly with his sibling. Marco and Connie on the other hand, were less enthused about what

"Ehh, is that thing alive?" Connie said with a small amount of discuss. She knew magic had an ugly side, thanks to _Unfamiliar Familiar_ , but this was a tad freakier than she was expecting. She slowly lifted a finger at the tiny aberration of nature and slightly tapped it's head. "Huh, it's softer than it looks."

"Your friend grew a head on his finger, and the first thing you say about it is that it's soft?!" Marco shouted like he was the only sane person around. "How is anyone not more terrified by this!?" The cat meows more. "Seriously, think about it!"

"Oh come on Marco, sure it's a crime against nature, but it's a cute crime." She petted the cat finger even more to the creatures delight. "Come on, give it a chance."

Marco did his best to keep his eyes shut, though the cat's constant cuddling and purring made it more difficult. "I guess it's a little cute." Before Marco could let down his guard, a massive sneeze erupted from him, making the cat wince in pain at the saliva's touch. "It's even triggering my cat allergies." Marco backed away a little. "Exactly how real is this thing?"

"Glosseryck said it come from my mind, so I guess it's as real as I want it to be." Quartz shrugged as he admired his latest accomplishment. "So I guess that makes it even cooler."

"Ah, no duh it does! It's one of the greatest sights in the world." Star blurted as she raised her brother high in the air. "It's a gift, Quartz, a gift that needs to be shared by everyone!"

"You're right! Come on guys, let's take this show one the road!" Quartz jumped out of Star's arms and leaped forward, only to stop at the sound of his stomach growling. "While also grabbing something to eat!"

"Ooh, I know a great donut shop not far from here! Let's roll, bro." The royal siblings returned to their happy prancing, barely noticing the to compatriots they were leaving in their dust.

"Please tell me I still not the only one disturbed by this whole thing. Please." Marco begged Connie.

"No, no, this is pretty, unusual, to say the least." A soft sigh of relief came from the teen. "But they can handle this, right? It doesn't seem to be leading to disaster."

"I thought the same thing about Star's Mewberty, and we both know how that turned out." Connie blushes as she remembers. She still couldn't tell whether or not to count that day as a good or bad one. "And before that, my arm gained sentience and try to devour everyone."

"You don't think that's where this is heading, do you?" Connie feared as both started to walk in hopes of catching up to Star and Quartz. "Quartz becoming a monster?"

Marco found it better not to answer her questions as they finally made their way to the smiling siblings, too lost in their own world to worry about any danger.

* * *

Whether it was a subconscious desire to keep the calamity centered to a single area, or just general forgetfulness, Marco realized just how much Star didn't see of Earth despite living with him for a few months now. Compared to Star, Quartz hadn't even spent a quarter of that time, so he might as well been an alien making contact with humans for the first time.

And going by how Quartz showed off his 'companion' to every average joe that came across his path, it wouldn't be that hard to make that assumption either. Quartz quite literally stuck his finger out at everyone so that they could get a good long look at the cat head. Showing it to little kids, who would either be struck down by it's cuteness or run off crying in fright, to adults, who either scoffed at the 'rudeness' of the adolescent or were stunned stupid by such a bizarre fright.

Matters were not helped by Star constantly spotting out the next surveyors, going as far as claiming to the heavens to look at her brother's work. Some assumed it was some sort of side show attraction and would every now and then toss out spare change, one person even tossing out 10$. "See Marco, how can anything bad happen when it get's you free money?" Star proclaimed in victory. Marco kept to himself and stayed silent. This was beginning to feel to much like the Monster arm incident, but he would let his friends be happy for now. Maybe it'll be different.

Soon the four of them arrived at the Big Donut, the best donut shop in town, because it was the only one, according to the advertisements at least. Quartz gasped in awe at the giant pastry that stood on top of the small establishment. "Wow, is that actually real?"

"Sorry bro, it isn't. Trust me, I know." Star shuddered as she grinded her teeth. She was fortunate enough not to break them that day. Without any further questions, the four entered the store, where a short blonde teen stood attentively while a taller teen with huge ear lobes stood less so listening to music. The shorter one was the first to greet them.

"Hey Star, Hey Marco." Sadie said with a small smile. She had known Star and Marco mostly through their reputation at school, but she had the chance to get to know them when one day a certain princess decided to leap onto the roof and try to eat their log in big and painful chunks. One chipped tooth later, the three of them were having a laugh over it with donuts. "I see you've laid off eating the bigger donuts lately."

"You try to eat a giant donut one time and they never let you forget about it." Star laughed it off, knowing she'll never live that one down. "I'm just here with my friends and brother to grab something." Star once again took the opportunity to show off her brother. "Pick out whatever you want."

"Five pink sprinkle doughnuts and a dognut if you will." Quartz spoke proudly.

"Wow, no one's ever been adventurous enough for dognut before." A smirky smile erupts from the short teen. "But I guess that just runs in your family."

"I'm adopted, but thanks."

Nobody else said anything as the boy with ear-lobes lazily shoved all the food into a paper bag, becoming more disinterested with every second that came to pass. "Here's your order kid. $10.05." His monotone broke the silence as he tossed the contents to them, suddenly eyeing the red hooded boy right beside them. "Diaz." He said somewhat bitterly.

"Lars." Marco returned with equally bitterness, both of them throwing knives with know sign of stopping. "Just pay them and go."

"Alright." Quartz responded without noticing the growing tension, tossing out a few cents. "Here's 5." Raising a high hand, he slammed his fist down, almost cracking the counter, with a 10$ bill hanging from the cat head's mouth. "And here's ten." Releasing, both Lars and Sadie got a good look at the finger feline. Sadie was incredibly intrigued, while Lars looked more freaked out.

"Aww, that's adorable." Sadie cooed, rubbing the head, though she retracts as she hears the purrs increasing from it's tiny muzzle. "Are you making it purr?"

"Probably not. It kind of does it's own thing." Quartz admitted, only adding to Marco's discomfort.

"Oh really?" Lars said with disbelief, shoving his finger into the cat's face in an attempt to disprove Quartz's claim. Not being to careful or mindful of the Cat, the feline reacted by sinking it's tiny teeth into the teen's flesh, making Lar's reel it back in pain. "Watch it, hair ball."

Surprisingly, for everyone else that is, Marco managed to get a chuckle out of that. "At least it has a good taste in people.

Lars bitter stare only continued to grow, making Sadie intervene before he did anything rash. "Hey, ,calm down now. I'm sure it only wants to play."

Quartz cups his face in realization. "Of course! It's all alone, how could I be so blind!?" Sadly he picks up his cat finger, which was mostly oblivious to what was going own around it. "It doesn't have any friends!" Signaling everyone to stand back, Quartz waved his arms around like a noodle, snapping it straight once he was ready. "Behold!"

And right before everyone's eye, four more cat heads appeared on his hand, each having various colors to their fur as the young prince cheered in happiness. Everyone else, save for Star, were taken back, especially Lars, whose exposure to magic by this point was little to none. "That's not natural. I can't be the only one to admit that, right?"

"I think that's the first thing we've agreed on in years." Marco replied back neutrally. Lars only rolled his eyes in response as he went back to whatever he was doing before. "Still the same jerk."

Star seemed to be the only one that noticed as they all exit the store. "Ah, do you know him or.."

"We use to hang out in grade school, nothing else to be said." He shut down quickly. "But back to the real issue here, your brother's fingers are getting freakier by the minute." He points back to Quartz, who was back to introducing his new 'friends' with Connie, who would step back every 10 seconds whenever one of the cats would hiss at her.

"Relax, Marco. My brother's just exploring his comfort zone, nothing unusual about that."

"This is the most unusual thing I've ever seen!" A fat teen with thick blonde hair and a collared shirt shouted as loudly and obviously as possible as he filled Quartz's fingers closely with his phone. "Witness the horrible mutation of the human race! Obviously this is the beginning of the sne…" Incredibly annoyed, the cats work together to snatch away the phone away. "Hey, give it back! You will not suppress the truth!" Small cracks on the screen emerge. "I just got that!"

* * *

After apologizing to Rolando, and then quickly evading him to avoid his 20 million follow-up questions, the four decided to call it a day and head back to the Diaz residence. All four companions were debating on what to do while enjoying their delicious pastries. "Thanks for the donuts Quartz. Mom doesn't let me eat any, all the trans fats and what not."

"That must be a nightmare. I can't get through the day without having at least one scoop of ice cream in my morning milk." Star moaned as she gulped her donut in one monstrous bite. "I can't even tell you about all the times my mom forbade me from the field of wild unicorns. They're just waiting for me to ride them, how can I not take advantage of that?"

"I can see." Connie chuckled. It didn't really relate to her issues, but it was nice to know about someone else's parental problems. It didn't make her feel so alone. "Though I got to ask why you got 5 doughnuts if you're having that hot dog?"

"Oh it's not for me, it's for them." He placed the two extra rolls of sweet bread on the counter as he let the cat's have at it. "I figured since they have mouths, they must have tummies too, however that works." The cat's wasted no time, gobbling up the first donut in no time at all.

The expressions on everyone else ranged from cringe to engrossment. All three of them were wide-eyed and shocked. "I, I don't really know what I'm looking at here." Marco spoke first.

"It's so weird and impossible, I want to do it, but I can't look away." Connie was next, not sure if this was disgusting or amazing or both.

"And it all feels completely natural, just watch." Taking off the armor on his arms, his wiggled out his other arm like he did before. "Shake it OUT!" Once again, five more cat head replaced the flesh of his fingers, immediately meowing to chomp down on the rest of the donuts.

"Ah, Quartz, you don't think you're going overboard, do you?" Connie spoke with a little more unease. "I mean, how much do you really know about those things?"

"I don't know, but maybe a little snack would help." Picking up his dognut, he prepared to chow on his hybrid pastry, only to recant in pain once the cat's hiss in frustration. "Sorry, I'll just do it more.." The chat's hiss more threateningly as he began to curve his fingers. "I guess cat fingers don't really work that well as fingers."

"Nonsense, this little guys just need to get use to the.." Star tried to ease him by placing her palm on his, only for the little miscreants to bite back on a reflex. "Ooww! I take back half the things I said about them being cute. Get rid of them."

While Marco rolled his eyes at the very obvious, Quartz sweated a bit as the cats only got more and more agitated. They didn't listen to a thing that he told them to do, and were causing more harm than good. "Okay, I'm going to do this again, and when I do, I want no more cat fingers, just regular, normal, Quartz fingers." He shook his arms to loosen his nerves. "And not little me heads, just actual fingers!" He stress loudly, putting on the most serious face he could muster to summon his power. It was really painful, and it didn't seem to be working. "Ju-just a l-little more concentra.." He lifted his right hand to his forehead..

pifp. Meow

Another cat head came bursting out just above the boy's eyebrow, hanging off his head like bulging fat as it meowed in happiness. Quartz, and everyone else were less enchanted at the cat's 'birth'. Now everyone screamed in terror, and it only served to make the boy more freaked out, struggling to stay still as he began to have a panic attack. "Star, Star, use the spell, use the SPELL!"

"I thought it we agreed to not use magic on this!" Star freaked as she readied her wand anyway. Seeing her brother so scared made he sick to her stomach. They could get scared, sometimes very easily, that Star wasn't afraid to admit, but she could hardly remember either of them at the same time feeling this type of fear. A fear that made them hesitate, a fear that stopped them in their tracks and wonder if this would be their life from then on. "And, and it's not going to do anything about the one on your head!"

"I don't care, just cast it!" He exclaimed his plea once more, and this time Star didn't hestitate to comply.

 **"Returnio, armio, normal reno!"** Star shouted it like her life depended on it, and deep down, she wish it was instead of his. A shiny and colorful blast emitted from the wand, engulfing the boy in it's bright light. It lasted for only a second, and Quartz fearfully looked to his fingers to see if it had worked. To his relief, no sign of anything cat-like was to be seen. Even the one on his head disappeared for some odd reason. Everyone sighed in relief, hoping that would be the last of it. "Heh, glad that's over. That would've been a CATastrophe."

Before anyone could laugh or groan at the weak attempt at humor, a wiggling sensation began to form from Quartz's left arm. "Guys, I don't feel so.." The boy's blood freezes solid once his here the sound of another cat coming from his left arm, only now it felt more round and numb. Slowly gazing down at his left arm. This time, it wasn't five cat head on each finger, now it was an entire cat arm that took over more than have of it. The one on his head returned and meowed in a scary synchronization with the one on hand, as if they were both agreeing with something. Even freakier still was when the prince suddenly lost his balance as he right leg became more stubby and less stable. Another cat head took the place of his foot. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"What do we do, what do we do, WHAT DO WE DO!?" Connie freaked as she got right behind Star. It was weirdly cute but it was also the most horrifying thing she's ever seen in her life.

"I, I don't know! Transformations are not what I'm good at! Why do you think I haven't changed Miss Skullnick back?!" Star shouted a little too forcefully as she watched her brother lay down in pain. More and more cat appeared all across his body, making his appear more unnatural with each growing second. Bits of Quartz's armor would fly into the air as the head appeared, growing bigger, rounder, and more blob like. She found it hard to breathe watching her brother in this state of agony.

"Guys, help, I, I can't.." Quartz attempted to say as he move forward. With most of his body comprising of fur and whiskers, he stumbled, making his body move in a ball like fashion. Slowly he rolled towards his companions, hurting himself every time he moved, which the cat's seemed to be enjoying as their smiles grew bigger.

"Quartz, stop moving, you're making it worse!" Star warned as the terrified trio slowly backed away into the kitchen as the creature got closer and closer. It's blobby mass and furry mass only seemed to get bigger and bigger as it got closer to them.

"Guy's, I'm, I'm sorr.." Quartz didn't get the chance to finish, as his face became drowned amidst the lake of heads that covered the entirety of his body now, removing any semblance of an actually person the creature held.

"Quartz, hold on!" Star divided right towards the creature despite Marco's warnings. She immediately began looking for any sign of her brother's face as her shoved away as much of the cat heads as she could. "Can you hear me!? Say my name if you.." Not appreciating the Princess's hands caressing themselves all over it's body, the creature sank it's many teeth deeply into the girl's arm. Marco managed to pull her away as she screamed in pain, leaving a dark red streak leaking from her arm.

The creature wasted no time in corning the kids like animals, preying on them with a happiest smile that they've ever seen. Marco, the only one standing between it and the rest of them, frantically searching for something behind to throw at the beast. "Stay back, stay back, STAY BACK!" He repeated as he threw the first object he felt with as much force as he could muster. It was a cup of water.

"What're trying to do, feed it!?" Connie shouted back sarcastically as she felt herself reach her limit.

"I was going for a frying pan!" Marco shouted back as all three of them prepared to brace themselves, only to find that nothing had happened to them. "What the.." All three of them looked in confusion at the beast, who had reeled it's head in pain. What caught there attention was the amount of flesh that was shown on the creature. The fur on it had shrank a little, revealing a familiar star birthmark that the Princess immediately recognized.

"Water." Star whispered at first, slowly realizing what had to be done. "He needs water!" Quickly filling up more glasses, Connie, Marco, and Star threw as much as they could at the beast again, filling the hisses increasing as more of Quartz's face appeared.

"Star..?" A weak sounding voice emitted from Quartz's throat, though it was enough for Star to dive right back to his side.

"Quartz! Stay with me buddy! Stay with me bro!" Star's tears fell fast on another one of it's heads, attempting to bite her away again. Quartz tried to push her away, but Star stayed adamant on staying put. "We'll make it through this! We will be okay!"

"It really, really hurts. I, I can't stray them off for long." Quartz whined. "Star, you're getting hurt because of me!" Quartz tried to pry her off again, noticing the bite mark from earlier. "I need to get away while I can, because right now, I'm just a monster! An adorable cat monster!"

"No you're not! You're my brother! My only brother, and I'm not about to let a bunch of little freaks take you away from me!"

"Star, please!" Quartz lost control once more, his face being pushed away as all the cat heads seem to collide together to form one gigantic wave of cat heads, towering over all the kids as the prepared to strike them down for good.

"Mega Starfish Tidal Wave!" Star pointed her wand directly at them, forcing them to the back yards as that portion of the house became flooded with water. Not wasting another moment, all three of the kids fled to the outside, cold, wet, and extremely agitated, from the day's events. "Please let this be over, please let this be over.." Star repeated to herself as she approached the unconscious body of her brother. "Just please be okay.."

Unfortunately that wasn't exactly the case. Quartz's body was pink with sharp razor claws, along with petal like hair that covered the majority of his face. The gem on his stomach glowed brightly as it stuck out, and his teeth were more fang like, looking like they could chomp a brick to bits. "What the.." Star question as the boy got up on all fours, prowling around animal like. Something about it seemed familiar. It's animalistic nature, the hidden eyes, the gem on the body, she was sure she's seen it somewhere.

"He's like this again?" Connie gasped, familiar and embarrassing memories resurfacing. The confusion on Star's face made her continued. "Back when you turned into that butterfly creature, he started to change to into that thing, and he started to charge at me."

"But he acted normally after that, so you were obviously able to do something, right?" Marco assumed correctly, judging by all the blushing.

"Yeah, but that was the heat of the moment, and.."

"Connie, what did you do?" Star begged with a pleading look. "If it get's my brother back to normal, we need to know what you did."

"I, he was getting up close, and I, it was obviously because of the hormones you had, so I thought, I mean it was only for a second.." Star and Marco were drawing banks as she danced around the facts. "I kissed him and that knocked him back to reality!" She shouted in one breath, feeling a bit relieved. "Wow, that felt good to admit."

"Wait, you kissed my brother?" She shouted, feeling more surprise in that one moment than she did this entire day. "Why hasn't.." Before she could question this any further, the sound of dimensional scissors came from 10 feet over. "Oh this so isn't the time for him."

Ludo step out first as he always did, with a small band of monsters following. "Remember guys, this strictly stealth. We go end, let nobody see you, and get ou.." The bird man whispers, only to look at the frustrated kids. "I really need to rethink my life." A face palm hit his face. "I suppose you won't just hand over the wand now, will you?"

"In your dreams, dodo. La-AHH!" The girl moaned as she lifted her arm again. The bleeding had yet to stop, and the pain had finally met up with the rest of her body. While the kids checked up on her, and the feral-Quartz running up to her like a dog concerned for it's owner, the princess unknowingly dropped the wand, bouncing it's way towards Ludo, who picks it up in awe.

"Normally I would berate myself and the others for not completing such a simple task sooner, but I'm too happy to care!" Bragging, he had the rest of his crew celebrate and cheer him on in awe while Star and Marco prepared to fight them back for the wand. "I finally did it! I final got the.."

"RAGGGGGGGGH!" Quartz without warning charged at the monster leader, knocking the wand out of his hand and began beating on Ludo. Driving him into the fence head first, the feral-Quartz held him by the throat, casually closing it's claws around it.

"Hey, if this is about me yelling at you because you..." One punch to the face was the response. "Okay, not a talker today, noted. I'm, I should apologize, I should've been more open to peaceful resolutions.." Without another anger filled growl, Ludo was flung across the yard and shoved into the ground as the prince closed in on him again. "SOMEBODY SAVE ME!"

"Oh no you don't, you guys stay the heck back!" Regaining the strength to pick up her wand, she held it as straight as she could and prepared to fire at the monsters, despite the stabbing pain messing up her aim. "He's MY brother. I'm the one who'll deal with him. You guys get."

"Don't listen to her, I'm telling you.." A tight squeeze around his neck told him otherwise. "Listen to her! Listen to her! Just get this psycho off me!" The monster's complied and reentered the portal, leaving Star to deal with her sibling.

"Quartz, let him go!" No response was made as it looked like Quartz was going to finish off Ludo. "QUARTZ UNIVERSE BUTTFERLY, LISTEN TO ME, AND LET. HIM. GO!" Talking his clawed hand off of Ludo, Quartz obeyed and walked slowly towards her, leaving the bird man to flee cowardly. "This isn't you! This wildness, attacking Ludo like that! That's not something you do!" She was met with silence as Quartz planted himself, starring curiously. This figure was familiar, and everything told him to follow her.

"Look, I don't care what happens to Ludo. He's bad, and bad things should happen to him." Star kneeled down to talk directly at him. He still remained beast like, but slightly more docile. "But your the one that tells me to wait, to calm down, and to talk things out. Well, this is me doing that. I'm tired, I'm confused, and I'm pretty sure you are too. I won't fight you Quartz, not now, not ever." Opening her arms, she encases him in a hug. She notices him tensing up more, though she only deepens it. "Those cats are what bit me, not you. I know you'll never fight me. You're too good to fight anyone."

The feral-Quartz rested his chin on the princess, snuggling close as he finally calmed down. A faint pink glow emitted from the boy, and once Star had ended the embrace, she had the smiling, and a bit daze, face of her brother back. "Hey, what did I miss?" Noticing the bite on her arm again, his face returns to a more worried one. "We should probably get that looked at."

"Not now Quartz, you've had a looong day today. Actually enjoy your day off." Star's smirked. "You never told me about you and Connie."

"What about Connie?"

"You know, you know.." Star rolled her eyes, thinking he was just playing dumb. "You're more smooth than I give you credit for."

"Thanks, but I don't know what you're talking about." Everything about his expression spoke of the truth. Nothing indicated any deceit. Besides, lying wasn't Quartz's strong suite. "If it's anything that happens in that, beast form, than I don't remember it."

"Wait, so you don't know that she.." Connie frantically began to wave her at her, shaking her head to get the princess to stop talking. "It's nothing you need to know now." Star knowingly winks back at Connie. She was definitely coming back to this conversation. "So, what now?"

"Something boring." Marco simply stated, with no objection from anyone.

* * *

Something boring turned out to be pretty engaging. Connie had to leave about an hour after that, but not before starting everyone off on the first chapter of _Unfamiliar Familiar._ Everyone was increasingly interested as the book continued the story. Action, Magic, Drama, everything a good book needed. Surprisingly, Star was the one that was the most impressed by it. "It's just like doing it in real life, only I don't have to get up!"

After Connie left, the trio was left to their own devices, but by that point, they could really care less. The three of them practically had to drag each other up the stairs as they entered their own rooms, with Quartz going into Star's. The prince attempted to slip into a sleeping bag he had packed, only to fall flat on his face halfway through it.

Only slightly less tired than the other two, Star placed her brother on her bed and slid right beside them, holding him closely as she felt his steady heartbeat synchronize with her own. Like a sweet melody, the rhythm slowly made her mind slip into drowsiness. She could only watch her brother as she began to close her eyes.

Something so calm, so peaceful. Hard to imagine he turned into that creature. It was weird, the way his gem glowed, the way he acted. It was almost like...

Star had to pause for a moment to really process what she was thinking. She never looked into things to deeply, but for her brother, she made an exception.

If she didn't know any better, she thought Quartz looked like that creature she faced when he was a baby.

* * *

 _Next time: Sleep Spells_


	16. Chapter 16

**HAHA, finally, I think I've finally figured out a schedule for my fics. Who knows how long that'll last, but enjoy it while it does. I own nothing.**

* * *

"Are you sure there's nothing else you wanted to tell me?" Moon pressed on as she fulfilled her duties, signing documents and whatnot while talking to her son. The time had come once again for Quartz to report his sister's progress. It would've been easier for her to just call Glossaryck, but she learned a long time ago not to interfere into the blue man's teaching methods. For whatever reason, Glossaryck insisted on 'keeping it in the classroom' so there was nothing she could do there.

"Nope. Other than chasing after three puppies, tackling two cereal mascots, and creating another hole in one of the school walls, but nothing else that eventful." Which was only half true, but Quartz thought it would be best if their mom didn't know about the constant dimension hopping, Ludo's attacks, or the literal noodle incident that almost cooked all of Echo creek into spaghetti. At least it tasted good enough.

"And I'm guessing you still won't tell me what happened when you spent the night over there?" When he came back, Star came back with him, and the two looked absolutely exhausted, like they just came back from fighting a pack of wolves. It was already a sign when she realized they ended the sleepover much, much earlier then she expected. Despite immediately pinning for details, the two stood in silence, outright ignoring her presence as they made their way to Quartz's room.

Moon felt furious with them, and a small part of her still felt hurt by it. They made no effort to hide whatever they did, and yet they remained outright defiant to her concern.

* * *

 _"Star, what happened over there?" The mother begged her daughter with a pleading anger in her tone. "Star, answer me right now!" Reaching out for her arm, she grabbed it with a tight rug, causing the girl to_ wince _in pain._

 _"Stop, please, just, just please, not now. Please let it go. Let it go." Star begged her_ mother, _who had finally noticed the bandage wrapped around her arm._

 _"Star, you're hurt, tired, and you're scaring me." Moon let go of her arm, and pleaded again with softer voice. "I don't see you all the time anymore and you've been more scarce with you're calls. I need to have some idea of what's happening if I'm going to trust you to stay on Earth!"_

 _"No! Please, she, we can't talk about this. Not now." To the Queen's shock and disappointment, Quartz was now being unruly. "Nothing happened. Everything is fine." The lie was so clear it was transparent._

 _She knew the kids defended each other, Quartz especially, no matter what. But when they were caught, they never denied it. They would confess._

 _But something terrible must've happened if they were both so willing to lie straight to her face while they were both in such a weak state._

 _With a reluctant frown, she walked away without another word._

* * *

Quartz chose to remain silent, much to his shame. Their mother thankfully never pressed for details after that, but it didn't save him from a two day grounding either. He had hoped for her to be too distracted by her 'business time' for her to even remember about it, but unfortunately for him, he and Star were pretty high on her priority list.

He didn't fully understand why Star wanted to keep this moment under the rug. From everything he remembered, it was his fault. He made the cat fingers. It was his body, his problem, his story to tell.

But what he put Star and their friends through still frightened him. It was a terrifying experience that he never wanted to go through ever again, like a repeating nightmare. He couldn't wake up the next morning afterward without feeling dirty and afraid for himself and others.

Star was still shaken up by the experience as well, hence her insistence on never bringing it up again. She even went as far as to never look at a cat again, a promise quickly broken once she saw Lion again and cuddled with him.

Besides, it wasn't like they would keep quiet about it forever. He just had wait until he was ready to tell her. That's all that was. Still, it stung to hear her passive aggressive tone whenever she 'subtlety' pestered him about it.

Knowing it would be a long while before she dropped it, Quartz changed the subject to something else that was on his mind for a while. "Um, Mom? Why did you send Star to Earth, but not me? Why not teach us both what you're teaching me?"

Moon saw what he was doing, but she chose to go along with it. Looks like an explanation won't be given today. There was more than one answer to Quartz's question, but for the moment, only one was needed. "I know you're trying to avoid talking about it, so don't think this is over." Quartz pouted a little. "But recall that it was you who suggested Star needed the opportunity to grow. You're father and I chose Earth because of it's more tame environment. In a setting like that, Star can learn about restraint more easily then a kingdom constantly surrounded by monsters." It probably defeated the purpose since Star had the scissors, but he wouldn't say anything about that. "..and despite how rambunctious you two are together, restraint isn't you're problem. You know how to listen."

Quartz blushed a little at that. Nice to know his mother wasn't too mad at him. "But you listen to your sister way too much though. You're still too clumsy with your new abilities, and you get way too attached to things at times. I still don't understand why you got so upset about that snake."

"They don't have any arms!" Quartz blurted with watery eyes. "They have so many problems we don't even think about! Like 'How are they going to scratch themselves?'"

Ignoring this outburst of childishness, Moon continued. "In any case, both you're abilities need discipline, just different forms of it. Believe me, if I could, I would keep you both here, where I can know what you're ALWAYS doing." The 'subtleness came back, and it was as bitter as ever.

Not wanting to further this, Quartz excused himself to his room to get ready for bed, leaving the mother disappointed and concerned. She was being hard on him, but he was the one that she knew she could trust. She put away time and effort to help him in everyway she could. They've been bonding in a special way that could only exist between them, even if he didn't know it. There should be absolutely no reason why he wouldn't talk to her about it.

"Uggh, I really need to stop overthinking this." Moon told herself as she prepared to end the day as well. So what if her son was having a lapse in judgment? He'd speak to her about it soon enough, and she could finally put this all behind her. "When did having children become complicated?" Better question, when did it ever not be complicated?

Slipping into her nightgown, Moon laid beside her husband and did her best to push any negative thought out of her head for the night. The last thing she needed to do was dwell on this for too long.

For a brief moment, it worked. Aside from River's heavy breathing, she found herself able to relax. No troubles, no mischievous children, and the scent of her mother's Red Solanaceae pie filled the air. Almost nothing came close to pure perfection and bliss than this.

Which is why Moon woke up not that much later when she felt something small and soft hit her face. Waking up alert and irritated, she found that the object that hit her was a crescent moon pillow, aka, one of Quartz's. "What are you doing up?" Had he finally come to confess, or was this going to lead to another grounding? "Quartz?" He wasn't anywhere she could see him. "Where are you?" Right above her, a small blanket falls from the ceiling, covering her had. Pulling it off, she slowly turned her head up, seeing the boy, siting upright upside down, completely unaware of the position he was in now. "Quartz?" She whispered a little louder.

That was enough to spark his attention, and as the boy awoke, he fell straight down towards his mother, who caught him with open arms. The boy seemed completely unaware of what he did, yawning as he greeted his mother. "Hey. Is it morning already?"

"How are you getting stranger with Star not living at the castle?" It was the only sane response the Queen could give in that moment.

* * *

Coming down the stairs from one of the most restful sleeps he's ever had, Marco trotted down the stairs, barely able to keep his eyes open. Yawning, his eye's remained shut as the peaceful jungle noises made him want to drop right back to sleep. His peaceful rest was interrupted as a swarm of purple parrots rushed by him, leaving a plentiful trail of feathers in their wake. That was how Marco knew Star was up already.

The entirety of the living room seemed to have transformed into a section of the Amazon. Lush green trees, a rich moist atmosphere, a tiny stream that flowed into the kitchen, and vines hanging out everywhere. Despite his initial shock at the house's new landscape, Marco had to admit this new setting had a serene touch to it. He could imagine actually enjoying himself in this new environment, doing his homework as he swung from tree to tree..

"Wow, Star's getting better at her magic. This is very peaceful.." He moment in bliss ended as a giant leopard with four eyes and a cobra for a tail grabbed him by the torso and flung him in every conceivable direction, tenderizing him for its breakfast.

Alerted by her friend's girly screams for help. Star popped out of nowhere and fired her wand. "Mega explosive crystal laser!" Instead of blasting it into oblivion like he expected, the spell turned into a simple laser pointed, distracting the feline hybrid long enough for Marco to slip from its jaws of death. "Made that one for Quartz. If it can work on Lion, it can work on any cat."

"Good to know." Marco tucked away that piece of information for a future date. "Thanks for the save. That makes it 28 saves for you.." taking out a notebook, he marks a checkmark on a piece of paper divided by two sides for Star and himself. "..and 4 for me." His dejection was lost on Star. This didn't help his image in the slightest. "But who's counting?"

Looking around, Star admired the living room's new interior design, and Marco assumed it was just pride in her own handiwork. "Wow Marco, I got to say.." Star gazed at the parrots that flew by. "..I just love what you've done with the place." One parrot lands on her head and begins pecking. "Aww, too cute."

Thinking it was the start of some joke, or Star's forgetfulness, Marco laughed. "What, I didn't do this." He didn't think he was even capable of imaging this. "It was like this when I woke up."

"Well somebody did."

"Somebody? Really?" It was too obvious by this point. To let it go on would be ridiculous. "Birds, rainbows, whatever that is." A centaur-poodle creature at chips from the background. "There's literally only one person who could've done this."

"My brother?" Stat guessed with full sincerity. "Could this be all some elaborate plan for my birthday? Quartz, you've done it again!" She gazed at the forest with a newfound perspective. "Huh, never thought he would go for the jungle theme."

"No silly, you, you're the only one here that could do this." He clarified. "This has to be you."

"Sorry, it wasn't me." She defended. As amazing as everything was now, she couldn't take the credit from somebody else. Marco, remaining unconvinced, shrugged off a few vines from a white stone structure, revealing it to be a fairly accurate larger than life replica of her head. "Hm, nah, it feels more like your dad's work."

"It WAS my work!" popped out from the mouth of the structure with a chisel and hammer at hand. Proudly, he admired his handiwork. "Worked on it all night. But no to everything else." He pointed towards the rest of the house. "This was here when I started.

Not being terribly bothered by this mystery, Star left with a smile as she headed towards the kitchen, though Marco held up a face of confusion to her lack of interest. "You're sure you didn't do it? There's literally no harm in admitting it."

"Well I would love to, but I don't remember doing anything besides going to bed last night." She poured a bowl of sugar seed cereal for her new feathery friend. "I don't take credit for other people's work. I have more than enough pride in my own magic. That's just how I roll." Quartz definitely seemed to think so. Speaking of which.. "Ohh, that reminds me, I should probably call my brother."

"Is it to talk to him, or to check on him?" Marco saw how shaken both the siblings were since that night, and how they promised to never speak of it again. Marco assumed correctly. That meant not bringing it up with their mother.

"Why can't it be both?" She answered before taking out her own mirror and call the castle.

* * *

Moon kept a keen eye on her son the following morning, not that Quartz seemed to notice. He wasn't phased that he work up in his mother's arms this mourning, he didn't question it as he made his way back to bed, and he ate breakfast like nothing had happened.

He didn't even seem to notice that his mother's eyes were glued to him like flypaper. If anything, he seemed to be more than happy she didn't say anything about the cat finger incident. Great corncakes, right Mom?" He caught her off guard. "That's why you're quiet, right? The corncakes are just that good." He finished off his stack before dismissing himself.

"Hold on Quartz, I need to speak to you." Moon caught up with him. Quartz didn't even looked worried in the slightest. "Did you have any trouble sleeping last night?"

"Hm, not really." He answered honestly. Moon could tell he wasn't making an effort to be dishonest with her, but the nagging feeling was still in the back of her mind.

"You sure? You didn't have any weird problems, like tossing and turning, or waking up on the ceiling?"

"Now that you mentioned it, I had a weird dream that I was." He recalled. "Star was blasting her magic everywhere and something, and we both heard you voice, but you weren't their." Moon leaned in closer to soak it all in. "You kept telling us something about Star's future and how we need to come to you for something, but that part was pretty vague. Other than that, I slept fine." He didn't think there was anything significant about it. "And also this three eyed lady came up, but she didn't really say anything. Just kinda stood there for no reason."

Okay, he seemed sure nothing was wrong, but still, his strange acts from last night still rubbed her the wrong way. "Then what about.." Before she could go one further, a ring was heard from her mirror in the main hall. With a patient huff, Moon answered it, and to her surprise, Star was the one who called. This could only mean one thing. "What did you do this time?"

"Hah, I'll have you know I've just got up! You have nothing on me this time, mommy!" Star bragged to the unimpressed Queen. "Anywaaaays, I just needed to talk to Quartz for a quick second." Quartz waved from behind their mother with a large smile. "Like right now." Quartz moved up to speak, with their mother not moving an inch. "It's a surprise we're planning, so it's best we don't tell everyone we meet."

Taking the hint, Moon left in a big huff. "You know she didn't buy that line about the surprise, right? She's been more on the edge with our personal business lately." Quartz warned.

"I know, I just needed to get her out of the picture for the moment." She rolled her eyes. Moving out of their Mom's surveillance just so happened to be an unintentional perk of moving to earth. "Speaking of which, you haven't told her about _**it**_ , have you?"

"No, I've kept my mouth zipped, for as little good as it did." His tired tone made her sulk a little bit, knowing about how he got grounded. Star truly felt sorry for her brother. She didn't want him to get in trouble after all that. "I still don't really understand why we're not telling her though."

"Look, it's a magical mishap, and you know how she get's about those. Didn't you say she was getting more strict with your training?" She tried to excuse.

"I guess, but still, it was my problem. I got turned into a monster by my own magic. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get in trouble." He tried to explain, though it looked like Star was doing her best not to pay attention. "Star, you know I've never been a fan of hiding stuff from our parents. I know there's stuff you like to keep in the dark, but I always get an ache in my stomach whenever I don't tell them what I want to tell them." A tired and weary weak was painted all across his face.

"Look, just give me some time to think it over. Let me have that at least." She pleaded once more, and Quartz, feeling very defeated, just shook his head a little somberly. "Hey, don't be like that. We're star-crossed siblings, we don't let each other get down, got it?"

"Yeah, alright. Alright." He mumbled with a tiny smile. That was about as get as it was going to get for now. "So has anything eventful happed already?"

"Oh of course! It wouldn't be me if it wasn't!" The normal positive tone between the two had returned to normal. "Somebody planted a jungle in the living room last night, and for once it wasn't me!"

"Really, that would've been cool to see." A smidgen of regret enters his mind. "Aw, does that me I can't do a jungle theme for your birthday this year?"

"Of course you still can! If you're still doing it, do it. I'll just pretend that I didn't know."

* * *

Marco's skepticism lingered on for the rest of the day, though he didn't really have much time to think about it as the day continued. Homework, karate, and nachos were what occupied the duo for most of their day, and the headed off to bed with hardly a worry in their head.

The only thought Marco had once he made contact with his pillow was about the situation with the living room. Star surely didn't act like it, but he felt something was a bit amiss with her lack of knowledge of it. Magic was already kind of an unknown to him already, but Star usually knew what she was doing, at least when it came to intent. He couldn't shake the feeling that something messy was happening, and he wanted to help Star get out of it as soon as possible.

His cautionary instincts proved to be correct, as the middle of the morning rolled around, he woke up to the sounds of magic and drowsy murmurs. The giant caterpillar crawling across his face didn't help matters either.

Knowing exactly where to go, the teen cautious tip-toed his way to Star's room. From the outside, eye-straining lights of various colors flashed like a disco ball. Marco paused for a moment, not knowing exactly what was on the other side. Preparing for a potential attack, Marco slowly creaked the door open out of carefulness and tiredness.

What he saw was what exactly what it sounded like. Star was waving her wand around in random directions, blasting random spells at nothing in particular. What made it strange was the fact that she did it without opening a single eye. Snoring loudly, she swung her body in a complete circle, aiming her wand at her 'intruder'. "G-get, g-eet back, st-stay away!" She shouted in tired anger.

Marco was incapable of leaping out of the way as he was pelted by a tiny swarm of narwhals, sending him flying into the wall. "Star, what the heck are you doing!?"

Showing no signs of awareness, she waved her wand again as she turned her attention elsewhere. "Lamp, destroy." Firing off an electric purple light, she encased the lamp next to Marco in it's magic, granting it sentience as it began shocking the boy's backside. His cries of pain fell deaf on the sleep walking princess, dragging her body around as she pressed the random dials on her magic mirror. "Shh, get away, y-you, y-you can't have h-him.."

 _"Star, just calling with your daily reminder to behave like the Queen you are."_ The old message of Mewni's Queen told the sleeping Star with a berating tone that caused an obvious reaction out of the girl. "Paper, tornado.." A green blast was fired onto a stack of papers, ensnaring Marco in a cyclone of never ending spinning.

"Star! Star you got to stop!" He yelled as it took him on a ride all across the room.

"No, N-O, n-no, you'll, you'll ever ake him.." Her words began slurring even more, as if she was somehow getting even more tired. "Beanbag, Monster, metamorphosis..." She pointed her blast at a beanbag, transforming the once soft and comfortable cushion into a slightly menacing creature slobbering form pellets with each step it took as it chased Marco.

As he ran for his life, his arm rendered useless by the magic paper, his prayers were finally answered as a portal was ripped from above him, and out from it entered Quartz, slamming down shield first on the beanbag monster. "Quartz?!"

"No time to explain!" Quartz helped pick Marco up, only to be shot down again as the lamp monster shocked him on the neck, leaving both the boy cornered. "Star, you gotta wake up right now!" He begs for dear life as the two creatures began slamming their fist against his shield.

Yawning, Star stretched out her arms like she was getting up for the day. "Ahhh, good morning Marco, good morning Quartz, good morning beanbag chair monster." It only took a second for the reality to hit her. "GUYS!? LIGHTNING SPARKLE RESCUE!" The monsters returned to their normal state of lifelessness as the two tried to catch their breath.

"Wow, thanks Star." His gratefulness sounds more bitter than he intended as he popped out the notebook again to add a checkmark to Star's side. "Now you're at 29 saves."

Scouring the mess that was her room now, she picks up one of the tiny narwhals she fired with a little concern. Which was weird, considering she fired bigger one's at people almost on a daily basis. Somehow, this didn't feel as natural as the other times. "What happened?"

"You were spelling in your sleep!" Noticing the lamp leaning on her shoulder, Marco side kicked it away, most likely so it wouldn't have the chance to attack again. "That's probably why you don't remember turning the living room into a jungle."

An awful, yucky feeling started to fill the Princess's gut. She couldn't get in trouble now like this! Especially if she isn't even conscious for it. Speaking of which.. "Why are you here?" She turned to Quartz with even more worry brewing in her mind.

"It's not because mom sent me, so you can breathe a little." A nervous chuckle emanates from his mouth. "Heh, it's actually kind of the opposite..."

* * *

Moon didn't know what possessed her to do it, but her curiosity and worry got the best of her. While everyone else in the castle was sleeping soundly, the Queen had planted herself across from Quartz's room, gazing at it with no intent of looking away. Her son was one a strange kid, she had to admit that, but sleepwalking somehow took the cake.

She didn't really know what she would do once she caught though? Was she suppose to just send him back to bed and just hope he wouldn't do it again? Just follow him around and see what he does? Did any of this have anything to do with his family and was just a natural course he had to take?

It was an unknown to her, and that was scary. The main job of the Magical High Commission was knowing everything, and she made that a high priority once she took up the mantle of Queen.

Which is why it was so frustrating for her to know Quartz wasn't telling her everything Star did on earth. She gave up that luxury the minute they stepped into that dimension. She'd give her daughter the space to grow, and in return, she needed to return the trust she had given to her.

For all the progress Quartz reported, it just didn't feel like enough anymore. She needed some sort of sign to put her at ease. That was the very least she needed.

"I wonder if Saint Olga's still accepting registrations." She murmured. It was the nuclear option, but Star proved to be an explosive child, quite literally.

Quickly though, her thoughts changed from one troublesome child to another, as Quartz's door swung wide open with a loud smack. Just as she assumed, he was still asleep in his sleep wear, slightly drooling from his lips as he held a shield high up in the air with his left arm. She had to admit, it was kind of cute.

"Hughhh, go, go, Staaar, get away from, her.." Quartz's tired moans echo as Moon does her best to hold him down. "Let, let, go, I, protect, protect, protect her..."

"Quartz, whatever problems you're having.." Her attempt to awaken him fails as he flung around his shield every time he attempted to get close. "..whatever the case of what's happened on Earth, you can tell me what's going on. You don't need to hide anything from me."

"No, no, get away, go away, GO AWAY!" Waking up by the sound of his own voice, Quartz, not knowing where he was at the moment, let go of his shield, making it ricochet off the walls. "Huh?"

Moon manages to catch the shield with little difficulty, tossing it on the ground as it begins to dissipate. "What happened, what was in your dream?"

"I, I don't know, I, I saw Star their and she was.." His eyes widen in horror upon realization. "I have to get to Earth!"

* * *

"Whoa, so she just let you go to Earth just like that?"

"Not exactly." Quartz sighed sadly. "She sent me back to my room so I would calm down, but I, snatched away her dimensional scissors when she wasn't looking." Star stared at her brother with huge agape on her face. "Is it really that bad?"

"No, I'm just surprised you went that far.." Ignoring the little factoid about their mother probably stalking him while he sleeps, it sounded like her brother was doing the sleep thing to. "Agh! This emotion bond thing is suppose to make life better!" She caused enough trouble for everyone today, it was time to suck it up and face it head on. "I'm not dragging you down with me bro." Turning her attention to the safe kid, she fell apart and begged. "You got to fix me Diaz, your my only hope!"

Marco's face lights up brighter than any of Star's spells. This was a rare opportunity he wasn't about to waste. "Yes, now it's my turn to save you!" Planting his arms right on the princess, his smile widens as he stares straight into her eyes. "With psychology!"

"Psychology?"

"Psychology!"

"Psychology." She whispered with deep intrigue, only to return to confusion. "What's that?"

Marco was all to eager to explain. "Psychology is like karate for your mind. I'm going to crack open the head of yours and see what makes you tick." He looked like he was about to take a spoon a scoop out a piece of her brain.

"You don't really mean that right?" Quartz questioned worriedly. "Because we have something like that back on Mewni. You're placed on a catapult and launched into the air. Once you recover from the two week coma, everything in your head should be back in order."

The completely straight face he kept on freaked Marco out just a bit. "Yeah, this here is pretty different. Now before we start, I must transform myself!" He shouted quite dramatically.

"Transform?" Star didn't get much of an explanation after that as Marco began spinning himself, almost like that how she changed outfits during the football incident. "Glasses! Paper! Clothes! Book!" Proclaiming loudly, he dresses himself in a somewhat nerdy attire. "Dr. Marco, P.H.D!"

"What does P.H.D stand for?"

Before Marco could elaborate, his mother walked by with her own definition. "Pretty handsome dude."

"Mom! Shouldn't you be in bed?" He whined. His moment of coolness was now over. Before Star could coddle him with that line, he moved himself downstairs. "Meet me in the living room when you're ready."

The two royal siblings were once again left by themselves, not really that sure were this was going to leave them. "So, I guessing you'll be taking off now." She said with a small twinge of disappointment. "Don't want to rile up Mom again."

"No, no, I don't have to leave right now." Quartz threw out their, though he seemed to be a little reluctant to go through with it. "I started sleep walking when you started sleep walking. Maybe we're suppose to get through this together. Besides, unless mom start's calling, I'm sleeping soundly in my room as far as anyone's concerned."

Star had to raise an eyebrow at that. "Since when did you get so sneaky?"

"Probably since the beginning. I have you to thank for that."

* * *

Expecting something a little more elaborate, Star found it a little underwhelming that all he did to set everything up was just bring out some sort of long couch in the middle of the jungle room. To her surprise, Marco actually insisted Quartz sit as close to Star as possible, something about needing to feel comfortable. Honestly, it was hard not to follow along with what he said. He looked too adorable in the dorky getup he was all excited about.

With both royals scooched right next to each other, Marco sat right across from them in a rolling chair, leaning forward like a wise professor. "Alright Miss Butterfly I'm going to administer a series of psychological tests in order to uncover what's bothering you."

"Oooh, tests, that sounds like fun!" She squealed, only to pout once realization hits. "Wait, no it doesn't!"

"And Quartz, since your magical bond thingy is making you both act crazy, I'm going to need you to participate as well. An extra perspective on the matter should help make things clearer." Quartz showed more enthusiasm for the task as he shook his head in compliance. "Alright, Test #1!: I need you two to pretend to be someone close to you. Acting like someone else should give us insight into how you feel about others."

The two looked at each other in confusion before nodding their heads, the smile on their faces confirming they had the same idea. With seconds, the two had thrown own each other's attire, Star putting on a bigger version of Quartz's armor, while Quartz put on Star's turquoise dress, devil horns, and boots. They even painted over their own cheek emblems to match with each other's.

"I'm Quartz Universe Butterfly! I'm an adorable, innocent prince that's always striving to help people, even when they hurt me!" Star did her best impression of her brother's voice. "I never give up, and I will become Mewni's greatest knight!"

"And I'm the rebel princess Star Butterfly, the chaotic, the unpredictable, and all around amazing magical princess. I live on earth and live to explore! My endless energy and endurance allows me to beat evil wherever I go, and I'll do anything for the brother I love!"

Feeling the sincere praise and love in each other's impersonation, the two soon joined together in a hug. "That was nice and all, but I think it would be better for Star if you didn't do you're brother." There was kind of no need for her to do that, he already knew how tooth-rottingly sweet the siblings were around each other. Besides, there were too many similarities between them to tell the difference.

"I totally understand!" Within another matter of seconds, Star had slipped into a Marco's daily attire, the red hoodie, pants, and even the same hairstyle as she deepened her voce more. "Hey-Hey, I'm Marco Diaz! My skinny jeans are awesome! Ooh, here comes Jackie Lynn Thomas, I better impress her with my karate! Look at my cute little mole!"

Marco observed unimpressed. A near perfect imitation, but it showed him nothing. "Ngggh." Grunting, he could only come to one conclusion as he finalized his analysis on his notepad.

 **THIS ISN'T WORKING**

* * *

"Test #2!: Art therapy!" He handed Quartz and Star two paintbrushes each as Star began playing with her hair, already beginning to lose interest in what they were doing now. "Paint me a picture of your childhoods. Perhaps the answer lies within your past.

Taking the next few hours, Quartz and Star were separated to draw on their own canvases. Marco took a look at Star's first, and was taken back by the colorful details made by the princess. Aside from the wild unicorn and rainbows that Marco honestly expected to be there, one the side was a group of familiar looking monsters being held back by a struggling Quartz, while Star herself was in the middle, being strangled by a large green, hissing snake that hade light blue hair and a crown on her head. "This, this is incredible! Such depth! So many symbols, what does this say about your childhood?!" This could be the final key he was missing to all of this!

Sadly, he had to slap his face at what Star stated next. "Wha, nahh, I just drew this because I think monsters and unicorns are cool." Making monster noises to prove her painted, Marco walked towards Quartz a bit crestfallen, hoping the boy took the exercise a little more seriously.

Quartz's drawling was more crudely painted then his sister's, but it was just as, if not more colorful than hers. The main focus of it was himself and Star standing side by side as they blasted away dark, shadowy hands that looked like they were trying to tear them apart, with a bright blue crystal heart symbol in the middle of them. A little detail that both Quartz and Marco both missed though were the four small gems above them, each of them red, dark blue, purple, and white respectfully. "Please tell me this isn't just somethin you've always wanted to draw." Marco's desperate tone was made abundantly clear to the kid.

"Oh no, I just did what you told me to do, and just drew what came to my head." Instant relief and justification came to the teen. "This is part of what I saw when I went to bed last night. It's why I was in such a rush to get here. Does this help a little?"

"More than Star's at least." Okay, so the two paintings had similar themes, even if Star didn't really know it. He could practically taste how close he was to solving this, it just remained a bit out of reach. He was so close to helping Star. He just had to keep on pushing.

* * *

"Test #3!: Inkblot test!" Marco sat them down on the long couch again, shoving a pile of large white papers in their faces. "Tell me the first thing you see.."

"An inkblot! I win!" She proclaimed proudly. Quartz even applauded her with a small clap.

"Nonono, tell me what the inkblot reminds you of." Marco elaborated.

"Ohh, a fat porcupine!" Star exclaimed immediately.

"Really, because what I see is a butterfly emerging from a rosebud." Quartz countered. "Am I doing this wrong?"

"No, this, this is really good. Feel free to see what you want." Marco supported. Finally, he was getting somewhere with the both of them. He revealed the next inkblot.

"OOh, a little alien guy in a gnome cap!"

"Huh, weird, I'm pretty sure that looks like mom about to blow her top off in a fit of boiling rage." Quartz answered, to which Star scoffed.

"Pfft, as if. I think I know what a little alien in a gnome cap looks like. Hm, maybe I'm sleep spelling because I'm secretly a little alien guy in a gnome cap."

"Or maybe you're doing it because little aliens in gnome caps are trying to abduct you."

"Yeah, no." Marco dropped immediately before they could go on any further, showing them the next card. "Okay, next we.., okay sorry, this one's a mistake." He tried to put away the card, which just had a plain black dot in the middle of up.

"Hughg! That reminds me of my overbearing mother suffocating me with all the duties of becoming a queen for the rest of my life!" She gasped out, leaving both the boys in shocked silence.

For Quartz, it blew away a little piece of his mind to see Star admit something so personal, and slightly uncomforting, in one breath. He knew she was struggling with the whole princess training, but he couldn't have imagined her putting so much stress on herself because of it. He thought she didn't even think about, considering how happy she appeared most of the time.

For Marco however, it was exactly what he needed to hear. His smile couldn't have been any wider as he got up. "I believe we've found the root of your problem. You have mother issues!" He exclaimed like he found a diamond ring in his pocket.

Confused by his excitement, Star proudly proclaimed it also. "I HAVE MOTHER ISSUES!"

"No Star, that's bad." He explained.

"Aww, I have mother issues."

"Don't worry, it's good that we've found it. Identifying the problem is the first step towards recovery." Star's eye's gleamed at that idea. "Now Quartz, has their been any issues you would like to discuss. I believe you're insight can tell us what we need to do next." Still a little taken back by the sudden outburst, Quartz thought carefully about what he wanted to say next. "Feel free to say whatever you need to. This is a safe place."

Taking a deep breath, Quartz followed in Star's footsteps and realized it all in one go. _"Well I think that Star and Mom have numerous problems when it comes to trust and thus I always feel like I have to get between them in order to maintain the peace between them like how I convinced her not to go the saint O route but now that I tell mom about what you do on Earth she get's a little mad when I don't tell her the whole story like what we did with the cat fingers thing and seeing her feel like she can't trust me is just very awful for me to see!"_ The shoe was now on the other foot, as it was now Star's turn to hang her mouth open. "Too much?"

"I, wow Quartz. Things are getting that bad at home." Quartz chose not to answer back, though the silence does it for him anyway. "I, wow, I can't, we, we need to fix this, don't we." The boy nodded. "I, I guess the only way to do that is to go to Mom and come clean with what happened that day, among other things." The silence only got more uncomfortable. "Need a hug?" Quartz wasted no time to jump into her arms. "Dr. Marco, you've saved us!"

"All in a days work." He said with a hint of smugness in his voice. With confidence, he headed upstairs as he placed a checkmark, this time on his own side. Now he could revel in satisfaction.

"So exactly when are we going to Mom?" Quartz asked, and Star's attitude immediately began to sour. Admitting the problem was easy. Knowing what she had to do was easy. But going through with it? That was a bit of a tougher order.

"I, I don't know. As soon as possible I guess?" She threw out there, though she was more unsure of it as she said it out loud. "I, I'll do it tomorrow. I promise."

"Thanks." He said with a weak smile and a loud. Today was too exhausting than it needed to be. "I'll just head back to Mewni before Mom realizes I'm.." Star didn't let go of her grip.

"Just, just rest here with me for now. We'll deal with Mom in the morning." Star said as she laid down on the couch. "I don't think I can be comfortable anywhere else."

* * *

Marco was able to relish his victory for the next two hours, able to sleep soundly knowing that he helped out his friend. It was a huge relief off his shoulders. Which is why when he woke up to the sound of magic literally flying through the air, all that self-satisfaction slipped down the drain. "What the.." His bed was turned into a giant inflatable kitten as he floated into the air, witness Star burst through her down, rolling along the floor with her brother in her arms, who was also still asleep. Occasionally Quartz would summon his shield and Star would thrust his body forward to throw it, like they were two parts of an action figure. Marco would've admitted this was a rather cool sight if the two weren't also destroying his room.

"Aww man!" Marco whined as he crossed off the extra checkmark from his side of the list. "Back to square one I guess." Before he could lament on all the extra work he had to do now, an unfamiliar voice of struggle sounded off below his bed. From the angle he was at, he could see Star was firing a continuous blast of magic at something that was trying to grab her. He pressed forward, trying to get a better look at the thing, only to pop the kitten from squeezing it too tightly. Screaming, he plunged downward into the two royals hard, instantly snapping them both awake once more.

"Huh, Quartz? Where are we?" Star shot her eye's open to survey her surroundings. A pair of boxer shots with hearts float in the air due to multiple blasts of magic. "Underwear? Oh no! Marco naked!"

"No, no, I'm just in my jam jams!" He corrected. "Look!" Pointing outward, the trio gazed at the intruder, a purple elephant like creature with a bushel of hair covered in hairspray. She wore a lot of jewelry and make up as well, though they did nothing to hide her wrinkly skin and large tusk like teeth.

"I want your face!"

"You weren't sleep spelling, you were just defending yourself from that sleep, goblin thing." Marco realized. Wow, he was way off with this problem.

"Wait, I've seen her around before." Quartz examined the intruder, who looked worried and jumpy, constantly gazing at the nearest window, waiting for something. "She's a princess!"

"Yeah I am, but that's the problem, which is why I need your face!" She pointed back to Star. "I came hear to steal your face! You hurt me in the butt!" She turned her backside to them to show the damage, reveal a tiny narwhal that was still imbedded into her bottom. The trio never felt more sorry for a sea creature.

"Okay, we get the point, but would you stop yelling?"

The intruding princess looked offended by this remark. "Well sorry, but I don't have any ears!" Her voice was so loud and grainy that they couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic. "Camera phone." Why she took random selfies, they never found out. "Look, I'm on the run from Saint O's."

Why oh why did that name keep popping up in her life? "Well you can't stay here! I don't wanna be sent to Saint O's!"

"Oh, you're going to Saint O's!" The monster princess explained. "You see, we're both big girls! The same highs and lows, the same easts and wests." She began compare herself to star as her delusions finally begin to kick in. "You can hardly tell us apart, except for in the face, Camera Phone!" The trio stood completely agape at what they we're hearing, shaking their heads. Did she really believe.. "So I'm going to laser fing'a your face off of yo head." It was at that moment the trio stopped listening from the shear nonsense of this girl's perception of reality. "Don't worry, you can have my face, 'cause I'm going to be wearing your face, so when the heat comes, you can go to jail, cause ya look like me! It's just a classic face switch scinariooo." She gave a gloatful smirk, like it was the most intelligent thing she ever said.

The trio exchange looks for 5 seconds before bursting out in laughter. "HAHAHHAAAHAH, That, that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Marco bellowed out. He wonders why any of them took the situation so serious after hearing that crap of a plan.

The elephant girl was less inclined to laugh. "It's not funny."

"You're right, it's ridiculously hilarious!" Quartz's laughter was the loudest out of all of them "Hehehah, you, you have no idea how much we needed that, after, after the day we've had!" He could barely keep his words together as he manage to spit something out.

"Glad I could help, now if ya don't mind." Using their distracted state, the elephant girl snatches away Star, making her lose her one as the intruder carried her down the stairway.

"Star!" Reacting on instinct, Marco leaped to catch up with her, sliding down the stairway rails, hardly noticing that he had left Quartz by himself. "Hang on, I'm coming to save you!"

"Hey Marco, you forgot about the.." He picked the fallen artifact, and like before, it changed forms upon sensing his intention to use the wand. "Thought it would be a lot longer before I had to use this again."

Meanwhile, the chase downstairs refused to slow down. The girl, despite how downright ludicrous her idea was, she seemed to be dead set on going through with it, and didn't relent in the slightest. At one point, she even attempted to outwit the boy by hiding behind a newspaper. It didn't work, mostly because she used a newspaper from Mewni, and the cover story was a picture of herself. "Really?"

Not even phased, the elephant princess climbed onto a vine, and swung around like a manic. Marco was right on her tail, swinging around even more widely, mostly due to his inexperience. Still, the monster princess swung away with a face of triumph, even when she smashed herself into the ceiling and on the roof. "Camera phone."

The chase want on, but now it was close with Marco right on her tail. Despite Star's attempts to slow her down by grabbing on one of the lightning rods, the intruder still pushed on through, using her truck to climb on the roof of Star's room.

Marco was helpless as he watched the kidnapper ascend to the top, laughing evilly as she used her own pair of dimensional scissors to open a portal. He struggled to gain a steady balance as the monster continued to mock him. "Careful on the roof! It's slippery from the evening dew."

"Let go of me, you weirdy weirdo!" She frantically kicked at the girls stomach, though her enlarged mass made it very futile

"Is Marco small, or is he just really far down? I can't really tell." She strangely asked before pointing her index finger at the girl, and a small but focused ray of light was fired at the center of her forehead. "Laser finger."

"Marco help!"

"Star, I'm one my way!" Marco jumped, only to fall flat on his back, and as he did, the square glasses he had worn before fell out. Could this be the answer? It didn't really work before, but he was out of options by this point. Only one way to find out. "Glasses! Paper! Clothes! Book!" Once again 'transforming' into more appropriate attire, the teen readied himself for some serious psychological analysis. "Dr. Marco, P.H.D!" A bold, optimistic smile was plastered on his face, only to revert to a pleading and slightly pathetic one afterwards. "Wait, you don't have to do this! I have an A in psychology, I can totally help you!"

Feeling a lot less confident about this idea after he revealed that, Star's panic amped up to an 11 as the elephant girl firmly denied his request and walked towards the portal. "USE YOUR MIND KARATE!" Her face began to sweat from both the stress of the situation and the heat of the laser.

Marco pleaded again for her to stop, pointless attempting to climb the tower to reach them. The monster was more or less annoyed by him by this point. "I already told you, I don't have any ears!"

"Well, maybe that's why you're in this mess!"

The girl took a moment to ponder this before responding, finally stopping her lasering of Star's face. "Okay, I DO have ears, but I don't use them to listen to people, cause the only people I listen to is my mind." Star actually began to soak in her kidnappers words. Huh, she wondered if this is why Quartz tried to be nice to monsters. "And now, my mind is telling me to steal her face."

Taking off his glasses, Marco gazed into the eyes of the princess, and prepared to finally end this. "But you can't keep running from you're problems. It'll just add on more and more, until it becomes an endless cycle that you'll never get out off. When you stall other people's faces, the only thing you're taking away, is her, and your own future."

"But, but I like my future." The two sighed in relief as a small smile came to them. "And that future had me wearing her face! HAHA!" Seemingly getting the last laugh, the girl began entering the portal, with the two too blindsided by this turn to do anything.

"TINY PINK WHALE HIVE FIVE!" Quartz, shouting from behind her, floated up from the window of Star's room, and used the wand, now a red and blue microphone with a small crown at the bottom and a rosebud at the top, to blast the girl right in the head. Within seconds, the elephant creature was knocked out, and fell from the roof to the backyard. What didn't help was the tiger creature from before, now mauling away at her like a chew toy. The trio could only pity the intruder as they made the call to Saint O's to take her away.

After the goons from the reform school arrived, and after applying a lot of peroxide to her wounds, the escape was back to where she belonged, while the trio sat soundly from the roof to make sure it stayed that way. "Too bad we couldn't talk it out with this one. We were pretty close to doing that." Quartz said with only mild disappointment. The girl clearly had issues if her plan was anything to go by. Who knows? Maybe a good hit to the head just what she needed.

"Hey, I almost fell for her sincerity, so maybe next time will be it." She suggested optimistically to her brother's delight. "Anyways, I really got to thank you two. You guys totally saved my face there."

"Yes! Finally!" Marco chucked his arm in celebration as he began to write down on the notepad again. "Though Quartz kinda did the hard part, but I did keep her distracted, and since you insist.." He added another checkmark to his side.

Star gave the boy a curious glance. He had been carrying that notepad around all day, and she didn't know why. "I don't get it, why is that tally chart such a big deal to you? I mean, I don't keep track of how often I have to save this little guy." A playful elbow to her side was pushed into her stomach. "Oh, you know you save me just as much."

Marco was a bit stunned. He had silently wished Star would've just glance over what he had been doing all night. "I, I don't know. After everything we've went through, I've began to notice how much you do for me. You're this magical princess from another dimension, and I'm just.." His eyes drifted downward in defeat.

Knowing exactly what she had to do, Star put on Marco's glassed. "Star P.H.D." Marco and Quartz had to laugh at this a little, thinking it was all in good humor. "Marco, you are awesome. We don't have to get caught up in who saves who. All that matters is that we have each others back." Quartz placed a shoulder on Star, knowing exactly what she meant.

Marco smile returned. "Thanks, but you got to admit, this time I TOTALLY SAVED YO.." He lost his footing as he began to congratulate himself, almost falling off the roof if Quartz hadn't caught him by the arm. For a 9 year old, he was very strong.

"So should I start adding Quartz to that tally chart now?" Star asked.

Marco laughed it off as best he could, realizing how much of a humbling position he was in right now. "You're right, we shouldn't be keeping track anymore."

After reassuring they wouldn't hold that moment against him, Marco headed off to bed once more, hopefully for the last time tonight. That just left Star and Quartz on the roof, leaping into Star's room through her window. The dilemma might've been over, but Star had a sinking feeling that their night wasn't. "Wait, so since all that sleep walking was just you defending yourself, does that mean we don't have issues with our mother?" Quartz asked hopefully.

Star really wanted to put that part of their lives behind them, just a teeny, tiny mess scooped into a corner they'll never notice again. How easy it would've been if she just said _'Nope! We're problem free!'_.

But that small bit of what Marco said earlier, about an endless cycle of problems, this was starting to become like that. "No, we wouldn't have admitted anything if we didn't have some issue on our minds." An awkward silence came about. "Come on, let's go talk to her now before we find a way out of it." She began making a cut with her own scissors before Quartz stopped her.

"Okay, glad we're doing this, but if we want Mom to understand, we need to make the situation look as good as possible. Make a portal to my room and make it look like you just came in. We'll do the rest from there."

"You're a bit more manipulative than you let on, you know." Star stated quizzically.

"I spend a lot of time with Mom. I just have an advantage."

* * *

Moon didn't think about checking in on her son until very early the next morning. She waited outside his door for about another hour after he began sleep walking, so she hopefully assumed nothing else happened after that. Going in, she saw Quartz still resting on his bed, which calmed her down at least. What she didn't expect was to see Star sitting on the edge of his bed with a newly made portal glowing from the side. It didn't look like one of Lion's, so she had to assume it was from a pair of dimensional scissors. Where she got them, she didn't know.

"Before you say anything, I'm here because I was starting to sleep walk back on earth because another princess was trying to steal my face and use me to replace her at Saint Olgas and when she got caught I took her pair of scissors when she wasn't looking." Star explained in one go, hoping her mother caught all of that.

She was able to catch the more important parts at least. Now she new why Quartz was sleepwalking. "O-okay, I, I'm glad to see you're doing fine after all that." Moon didn't expect to see her daughter in person for a while. This was really catching her off guard.

"Anyways, the reason why I'm here is because Quartz told me how you wanted to know about what happen, _that day,_ right?" Moon nodded quickly. "Well, I, the reason why he didn't say anything before is because I asked him to. It was a long and terrifying day for us. I thought it would, look bad on us, on me if we told you."

So much honestly was coming out right now that Moon wondered if this was the real Star. "Star, you had a bandage wrapped around you're arm. Nothing could've made it any worse, I assure you."

"Not even if I told you it was because Quartz bit me?"

"WHAT!?"

"Calm down, it wasn't really him." She backtracked, making the mother breathe a little easier. Okay, now was the time to slow it down. "Well, it was, but he didn't do it out of his own free will. It's, it's a long story that, that I should've told you a lot sooner.

"Yes you should have." Moon berated, making Star shrink a little. She wasn't going to come out of this unscathed. "Star, I'm you're mother, for the good or the ill, it's my job to be involved in your life, even when you're not living with me." Moon signaled Star to stand up and follow her. "I don't just need to know what happens in you're life, I want to know." Her voice became more tender and motherly, making the chills in Star slowly fade away. "I want to be able to trust you in the way you're brother trusts you."

"Thanks. I, I'll try, I promise I will." Star successful resisted the urge to cry. It looks like Quartz's plan was working. "I guess it started when I went through Mewberty at school.."

"Star, you what?!" Moon stopped in her tracks. "I know school's important, but you should've came here as soon as the signs started popping up! No Mewberty goes off without some form of trouble brewing."

"I'm sorry, but Glossaryck was no help and I didn't know what to do. Besides, nothing too crazy happened." That was a total lie. Over half the male students in the school wouldn't look at her for a week.

"Star, I've been through Mewberty, trust me, no one escapes without developing some kind of trauma from it."

"Ohh, this sound's like a story I got to hear."

Smiling widely, Moon countered. "Oh no, you're not off the hook here. You're here to explain your story first."

Joyfully watching from far behind, the young prince nodded slowly before making his way back to his bed. "Told ya."

* * *

 _Next time, a chapter that I've been waiting a long time to write:_

 _Blood moon ball_


	17. Blood Moon Ball

**So I spent most of this month trying to make this chapter instead of updating my other stories. What can I say, I felt very motivated by this one. Enjoy.**

 **Btw, for those that want the general look for Steven in this story, a picture of him can be found on my tumbler, mcu616.**

 **I own nothing.**

* * *

 _Around three to four months ago..._

"Come on Mom, do I really have to go to this dinner?" Quartz complained as he nonetheless compliant with his parent's plans for tonight. Bearing a nice blue and red dress suit, he followed his mother down the stairs, huffing with annoyance as he took each step. "Star's closer to them than I am."

"It's a formal dinner sweetie." Moon either ignored or didn't notice Quartz's reluctance. "We invite the royal family of one of the neighboring kingdoms in order took keep the piece and show unity for all of Mewni." She rolled her eyes as she explained. He really should've known this by now. "And all members of each family currently present must be their, so unless you do something within the next 30 seconds to get yourself enrolled in reform school, you will be attending." Quartz lifted a finger. "And don't even think about it. I sent your pet lion to Heckopoo's dimension tonight."

Quartz turned his finger down, though he had to smirk at the idea of Lion meeting his former caretaker after so many years. He could practically hear the yelling already.

* * *

 _'Don't you dare touch that that, hey, get away from, no, do not portal away from me when I'm talking to you!' The tied and panting voice of the commission member growled as Lion got into a predatory stance. She only smiled as she took her own pair of scissors and divided them into to daggers. 'I've had hears to prepare for this day, and I swear by the lives of my fallen clones, I will reign supreme today!' She leapt forward to attack._

* * *

"I don't understand why you don't want to be here Quartz. You've been doing this since you were a baby." They both entered the dinning room, though tonight already rang a bad omen with King River barging into the kitchen, where it looked like he was trying to drive a sworn into a chicken. "And you've always been the most well behaved one here."

Quartz cursed inwardly at that. The one time it didn't pay off to be the 'good' child. "But while you're talking with the Lucitors, I'm the one that'll be sitting across from.." A thunderous book shook the ground as flashed of blood red fire rose from the cracks. "Him."

"Quartz..." Moon berated. "I know things on that front are a bit shaky, but you've managed to be civil with him before. One more night isn't going to make much of a difference."

"May I remind you that he lit my trike on fire, tripped me several times, lit my little crown on fire, broke every collectable of Mewni's heroes I own, lit my blanket on fire, lit my hair on fire, lit.."

"I get it, he tends to light a lot of stuff on fire." Moon sighed as she seated herself. At least Star wasn't here. She would've made a bigger stink out of this than Quartz was. "The only thing you need to do tonight is tolerate him You can do that at least, right?" Quartz stayed quiet as he crossed his arms. "Your father's family and my family do it practically every other month. Just think of this as one of the annual Butterfly reunions."

Quartz would've said something about the many occasions that both the Butterfly and Johanson broke the piece and landed each other in extensive care, but he thought better of it. He was making excuses by this point, and he did know that he would eventually talk to him about what happened. At least tonight he wouldn't be able to put it off anymore. Cooling down a little, Quartz nodded in acceptance. The king showed up a second later lathered in feathers and gravy. "Finally got that bird back in the oven. We shall be dining well shortly."

Moon chose to say nothing as the king wiped away the feathers. Quartz just took a deep breath as he prepared to get through the night.

* * *

Present time...

It was a normal peaceful day on earth, which meant it was the right time for something unexpected to happened. As the students of echo creek scoured through the hallways, the always troublemaking Oskar sat outside the school as always, playing on his keytar a more broken tone version of _Twinkle, Twinkle little Star,_ he lazily gazed up at the pale blue sky as the earth itself opened up in fiery fury, summoning from it's unworldly depths a flaming unicorn's skeleton carrying pulling a carriage with dark and foreboding decorations. Once it properly settled itself on the ground, two pairs of dress shows stepped out, each step scorching the cement of the parking lot. "Hey, that's a handicapped spot." The only spectator there pointed out, not that he seemed to care afterwards as he continued to fiddle on his instrument. "Would you mind me using you as an album cover?" He casually asked the unicorn.

With every step the stranger took, a blazing trail followed as he entered the school. His confidence shined through as he marched right pace the locals, who could do nothing but stare in awe of the intimidating person. Whispers echoed as he came closer to his target, mainly compliments from the girls on how attractive he was. He was flattered, but they weren't his the one that captured his eye. There was only one girl for him, and she would be with him, no matter what.

It took a long while, but he finally managed to locate the one that had captured his heart. Star Butterfly, princess of Mewni, the cutest troublemaker he's ever met, and the one who almost got away. If tonight went as planned, she too would see that they were soulmates.

With nothing else in his way, the well suited stranger used his power to hoist himself in the air and scoots away anyone in front of his Butterfly. Star sat silent as she gazed at the figure she swore to she as little as possible. Right before her, with three eyes, two horns, and light purple skin, was Tom Lucitor. Prince of the Underworld. Her ex boyfriend. "Hey Starship, I'm here to take you to the Blood moon ball." He decorated his palm with a fiery crescent moon. Almost anyone else would be hypnotized by it's beauty and say yes.

Star wasn't one of those people. "No, No, No, No." Star dragged the underworld prince back to his carriage, leaving a steady trail of fire as she did. The local fire department that later came that day began to suspect some sort of arsonists conspiracy. "Get out of here Tom. Take your carriage, and your fire, and your dead horse, and go back to the underworld." She shoved him in his ride and tried to leave it all there, only for Tom to persist on.

"Ohh, come one Starship." He used his fire to levitate the girl into his arms, as he did so many times before. "It's the blood moon ball! It only happens ever 667 years." He had hoped the rarity of the dance would've been enough to convince her.

Star ignores the smoothness of his voice as she flips right out of his arms. "WE BROKE UP. Period." Now she was starting to wonder why she didn't notice her brother's warnings before. Maybe all forms of love are blind.

Desperate, Tom grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Star, I can see you're reluctant to go anywhere with me. I never been good with being mad, and I've never had the best impression with you're brother..."

"Understatement. Do you know how many times I found pieces of his clothing burnt off when we were younger?"

"..Yeah, I know that's bad, but I'm a totally changed man! I have a life coach, named Brian.." A fat man with a green collared shirt popped out to wave hey. "A happy bunny, and, and I've been anger free for 53 three days!" He proudly declared, showing off the button to prove it.

"Fifty-three?" That was a lot longer than the five seconds he usually lasted. Besides, didn't Quartz always say something about giving people chances? Or did this not apply because Quartz hated him?"

"Come on, don't you want to pet my bunny?" The bunny twitched its tiny nose as it happily sat still on the prince's hand. It didn't seem scared by Tom's presence or anything. Maybe he has tried to be better.

"Well, he is a adorable.." She leaned forward, but she didn't have the chance to get close as Marco flew out of nowhere and literally karate chopped off Tom's hand, which still held onto the bunny tightly. "Marco?!"

"Back off demon!" That remark seemed to break the camel's back, because as Tom clenched his stubby arm, a blood-red thirsty gaze popped from all three of Tom's eyes. Seeing how his patient was about to snap, he supported the demon teen and walked him in circles as he muttered something in some ancient dialect. His gaze never seemed to take itself off of Marco though.

Coming right behind Star and Marco, Quartz busted through, riding Lion as he pointed his sword high. "Star, I'm here! I came to visit Connie but I heard Marco shout something about you being abducted by a.." One look at the demon prince made him drop his sword, though his face soured. "Oh, it's you."

"Wait, do you guys know him or something?" Marco asked, very confused at how casual they acted towards the literal demon in front of them.

"I'll explain this later but now you two need to get out of here." Star started, having a feeling these two wouldn't exactly be the faces Tom wanted to see at the moment.

"No, no, no, this is good, we're all good here." Tom said with the best good natured attitude he could pull of. He struggled to smile as he summoned his severed hand and bunny back to him. "This is why I have my system! Got all the angrys out!" His smile does little to lighten the mood. "Everything is under control!" With a wobbly arm, Tom extended his arm out to shake Marco's hand. "Nice, to meet you, Marco." He spat out uneasily.

Marco held a fighting stance the moment Tom tried to get closer, but Quartz walked in front of him, signaling him to stay down. "Marco, don't karate him." Star explained with a neutral sigh. Today was just going to be complicated no matter what. "This is Tom."

Marco eyes widen, though he still keeps his stance up. "Wait, you mean demon ex-boyfriend Tom?" The same boyfriend Star always said she would delete from her contacts but never did? The same one she always complained about how much of a grade-A jerk he was? "What is he doing here?"

"Guessing by the fancy attire, the insistence on taking you, and today's date, I'm guessing he's here to take her to the Blood moon ball." Quartz observed with a stiff stare and frown. "Did I miss anything?"

"Heha, no you didn't. You always had a knack for knowing what I was up to, heh." Nobody laugh. Tom was pretty sure the Lion behind them was about to pounce on him and tear him apart. "I even have my own pink pet, see?" Quartz had to admit the bunny was indeed cute. But that was a satisfaction he wouldn't give the demon. For now.

Watching the exchange, Marco tried to pull Star away. "Star, I care for you, so you should know, never follow a predator to a second location." Lion's ears perked up on that remark and growled. "Oh, you're as intimidating as pillow stuffing."

"Look, clearly I've made some bad choices in the past, and I got a lot to do if I'm going to earn your guy's trust." All four of them, counting Lion, gave him an 'are you serious' look. "But I want you to know Star that I have changed for the better. After all.." He got very close to her, a closeness that Star shared with only a select few. "..I'm not the only one with horns."

Star blushed, knowing what he meant. Heck, she would even be wearing her favorite headband if she never dated Tom. There were truly great memories that they made together. But there were a few bad memories. Some she looked past despite better judgement, and others she couldn't just ignore. "I don't know Tom, it's a bit sudden, and.."

"I get it." Tom nods with understanding. At least he wasn't bursting out in flames and dragging her down to the underworld. "No pressure. But if you decide to change you mind, just toll this bell." He hands her a small bell with a small diamond moon at the end of it. "And don't forget the little hammer." He plops it on her palm as he enters the carriage, engulfing it in flames as he sank back down to it's unholy depths.

Star was left a bit speechless. A part of her felt bad for trying to blew him off later, especially if his intent at being better was genuine. "Good riddance, I thought he never leave." Marco voiced in. "Seriously, did he think you would fall for something like that?"

"It's not the first time he's done something like that." Quartz's disdain was as clear as day. "Hopefully though it'll be the last."

"Guys, can we real talk for a second?" Star shut down the bad mouthing before it could get any further. "I have a crazy thought, and I need you guys to here it."

The two nodded their head, though they had to hold off for a moment as the school fire alarm rang, making all the students flood out of the now burning building. With the school day ending all ready, the faculty called it an early day and released the students early. Somehow able to find Connie in the whole mess of things, the four headed back to the Diaz residence, catching the girl up to speed with the situation.

"So, you've dated a demon with anger issues and can't get a clue?" Connie summed up the entire thing quite accurately. "Did I mention how cool that sounds?"

"Trust me, it sounds better than it does." Planting herself on the couch, she took a deep breath. "I've known Tom since we were kids, that's just kinda the deal when there's just enough Kingdoms to count with your fingers. I've always had a crush on him, but one year at the Silver bell ball, he asked me out on a date for corn shakes, and we sort of hit it off." She blushed. She hated going to that annual dance every year until he started attending. "He was the only prince there that wasn't either my cousin or older than me, and also the only one outside the castle that I could be myself around."

The other three were a bit surprised that she put it in such a positive light. "It sounds like you guys had a real chemistry." Connie analyzed. She hardly knew anything about romance, but recent events made her understand it a little better. "Why did you break up then?"

"Thirtieth birthday. They had an argument. End of story." Quartz answered quickly before Star had the chance to retell everything.

"Yeah, end of story." She whispered a 'thank you' to Quartz.

"Don't you see this is what he's trying to do Star?" Marco argued. This guy hurt Star in a way he couldn't protect her from. The best he could do was stop it before it begins again. "He's coming into you're life again, completely uninvited, and trying to bring you into the romance circle, splashing you with h _is fancy suit, fancy bunny, fancy fire,_ all topped off with a _fancy party_."

"Yeah I know." Star acknowledged. "But he has a therapist now, and the button does say he's been anger free for a while.."

"Wait, you mean he was serious about that?" Quartz's eye's read with surprise.

"Do you know something about that?"

"Yeah, yeah, I just didn't think he was going to go through with it." The boy felt a bit blindsided by that revelation. "Around three months ago, the Lucitors came over for a cordial dinner, which meant I had to 'play nice' with him."

* * *

 _Back to the past again.._

It didn't take long for their guest to arrive. Right on time, properly mannered, and all around pleasant for the most part. The only downside was figuring out the seating for the Queen of the Underworld, whose 30-foot size was rather problematic for everyone. With every step she made a small earthquake, and with every movement of her arm she threatened to throw someone into the wall. "Why do we always forget about this? Why don't we just get takeout whenever we invite them?" River felt the need to be very vocal on his thought tonight.

"River, Quiet. Bigger ears means better hearing." She hushed her husband as she tried to maintain a smile as best she could. Slight dents in the floor were a small price to pay for civility.

"I'm just saying, when you're guest is big enough to create a crater every time she sits down.." River was interrupted by the King of the Underworld Dave, who gave him an eyeful look. "Oh, you can't pretend like it's not a problem."

As the adults did their best to fan away any flames brewing up, Quartz put his entire focus his entire focus his food: Turkey with fresh corn stuffing. He lazily picked at the tiny bits of corn on the side as Tom sat right across from him.

In the past, Quartz questioned the idea of romance, at least when it came to his sister. She was very open to what, or who, she was attracted to. She would spend hours, swooning in her room, imagining various future scenarios of whoever caught her eye. Quartz felt the need to pry as little as possible. As long as Star could be happy, and let him plan the wedding, then he was happy.

But Tom was a demon, and not just because he had three eyes and horns. He was proudly destructive, careless to where his fire spread, and was just a big bully to him whenever Star turned her head. It was almost like he made an effort to separate him from his sister so he could have her all to himself.

The day Star broke up with him was a messy day filled with tears and empty Cookie Cat wrappers. He hated seeing Star in such a miserable state, but on the inside, he celebrated.

To the boy's surprise however, the demon royal stayed his had from any mischievous behavior. He didn't light a fire under Quartz's seat, didn't fling flaming bird bones at him. He just kind of sat there patiently, like he was waiting for him to talk. "Hey, this is freshly grown corn, right?"

Quartz rolled his eyes. He wouldn't be baited into this. "Off course it is. There wouldn't be an army of monster trying to steal it everyday if it wasn't." His awkward laughing didn't make Quartz flinch a muscle. "How you noticed how much our kingdoms value corn? I'm pretty sure it almost became Mewni's currency at one point."

"It did, but people started complaining about eating each other's valuables." It was a silly but true part of history. "Look, I don't want to walk around this all night, so can you say what we both know you're going to say." He crossed his arms.

"I, ha, I don't know what you're talking about.."

"Really, because you're sweating a lot."

"I'm a demon, you know, live in the underworld, fire and despair run rampant everywhere.."

"There's no fire right now."

"Yes there is, look!" Without gaining notice, Tom had lit a small part of the table cloth on fire. He did not count on how flammable the cloth was, and in mere moments, the entire thing had spread to the entire table, knocking both the Butterfly and Lucitor parents out of their seats. "Who knows where that came from?"

"Is that really your answer to everything?" The prince felt more annoyed by this point. As the adults attempted to put out the fire, while also playing the blame game on the guilty party( "You live in the underworld!"), Quartz took the opportunity to leave the table undetected. "This is why Star dumped you."

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT.." Tom erupted as he appeared right before the young prince, his eyes glowing a hellish red as he looked like he was about to consume Quartz in a supernatural inferno, but the boy, despite the tiny voice in his head telling him to flee to another castle, stood his ground. "Uh, I mean, that's still kind of a sensitive topic for me, so would you mind.."

"Tom, if you're trying to get me to talk Star into dating you again.."

"No, no, I get it, she's not the biggest fan of me at the moment. She made that abundantly clear the last time she called me." It was about a week ago, and Tom thought it was to finally throw everything under the bridge between them, only to be shut out by a wrong number. "You're the one she's closest to, so you know her the best."

That was a fact the boy couldn't deny. Last year he was able to map out everything she did on the weekends every hour on the hour, mostly because she would talk to him about it constantly afterwards. "What are you getting at?"

"I need to know what I did wrong!" His desperate voice filled the air, and for a moment, the boy felt a tinge of pity for him. "Did I set too many things on fire? Did I come off as too strong and smart for her?" The pity went away after that. "Does she think I have bad breathe?"

"No, it's, it's not even close to that.."

"Then what is it!?" The fire erupted from his body again, this time singing the carpet below them into ashes.

"This, this Tom! You're too angry!" Tom's fire dies down immediately. "You always get mad at stuff too quickly, and you always end up hurting others without thinking!" Quartz turned his back on him to calm himself down. "Do you know why I didn't like Star dating you? Its because I would worry about you getting angry at her, and what you would do to her."

Tom felt a deep, seething pain in his stomach right now. He knew Quartz tolerated him at best, but he didn't think it went this far. "Quartz, I, I would never hurt Star like that. I wouldn't dream of ever hurting her."

"If that were true, then you guys wouldn't have broken up."

It took a lot of will power for Tom not to lose it right then and there. Under normal circumstances, he would've tackled the boy and dragged him into the underworld for getting in his way. He would never see the light of day again, and he could do it all without anyway finding out.

"I can get away with a lot Quartz. I can lash out right now, and no one would be the wiser. I'm rich, so I can do almost anything I want." Tom steamed. Quartz turned back to him, though he remained unimpressed. "But I, I don't want to hurt Star's brother, and I don't want to keep being this person Star hates!" The demon fell to his knees and pulled on Quartz's dress shirt. "Tell me what I need to do!"

"You need to get help!" Quartz pried Tom's hands from his body. "Star's not going to like you or date you if you keep acting like a jerk. Be more happy around people. Stop trying to start fires and start trying to stop fires."

"Okay, okay." Tom nodded, soaking it all in. "You'll tell Star how good I'm trying to be though, right?"

"Tom.."

"Fine, fine." This was the best he was going to get from him. "But at least, if I see her again, give me the chance to prove it to her, okay? You can give me that?"

Quartz wanted to say no. He wanted to really say no and slam the door on his face. But that would go against what he believed. Right before him wasn't the same jerk that dated his sister. The person right before him was a guy, attempting to at least, to be better. He hadn't attacked at all the entire night, so that gave him some credit.

"Deal."

* * *

"And you didn't tell me this earlier because...?"

"By that point, the fire had spread to the castle hallways, so I just kind of forgot about it until now." He was still pretty mad at Tom even after that, so maybe it was more along the lines of willful ignorance. "Sorry."

"No, no, it's fine. I just feel like a jerk now." She thought back to the last time she called Tom. She dialed the wrong number, and due to everything else that happened that day, she let her bad mood get to her and immediately shut him out. "I could've handled things a whole lot better with him."

"Well, it's not like he gave you much of a choice not to." Marco still remained unconvinced. "Do you really want to consider going with him?"

"Well, it is a once in a lifetime sort of thing, so that's a plus." Star pondered. She really wanted to go the more she thought about it. "He was my first serious relationship, so I kind of owe it to him." Besides, it wasn't like this date meant they had to get back together. It was just a friendly night out. "Yeah, I will go out tonight. Been awhile since I've gone out like this. I should probably change now." Noticing the pale orange light from the setting sun, Star skipped upstairs.

"Star, wait! We should discuss this further!" Marco raced towards her, leaving the younger of the four to themselves. They were content with not moving, mostly because Quartz was in no mood to catch up with them.

His annoyed sighs eventually got to Connie. "Hey, so not to press anything, but shouldn't you get ready for this to? You are a prince and all." That would always be weird for her to say, though not as weird as saying she was friends with said prince. "And you could watch out for Star if Tom tries anything funny."

That was tempting. "Eh, I don't know. I've tried to mess with that mess before, so it's probably better if I try to stay out of it as much as possible."

"Hm, I just thought you would be more excited about what sounds like such a big event. Then again, you probably do this kind of thing all the time." She blushed, though Quartz tilted his head. "Dancing, big grand occasions, you're probably swarmed with escorts every time you go out."

"Not really. That sort of thing is mostly for people in Star's position." Quartz short of shrugged his soldiers. Connie felt a wave of relief hit her, though she didn't really know why. "It's more important for the next in line to find somebody in Mewni. I don't really participate in those stuff." He would admit that he enjoyed watching on the side every once in a while, but any big galas usually were too slow for his taste. "Besides, if I was king, I wouldn't be able to be a knight. That's where the real action is!"

"Oh, so I suppose your dancing is hardly eloquent enough to be seen by others?" Connie playfully mocked in a fancy-ish tone. Not that she would know what royalty sounded like. Then again, Quartz and Star always spoke normal around her.

"Just the opposite. My skills on the dance floor happen to be refined and dignified." Playing along, he got up and swung himself before reaching out his hand. "My fair lady Connie, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were asking me for a dance."

"Oh no, no, I was just kidding. I'd never doubt you dancing ability." Quartz ignored her excuses as he pulled her closer. "Quartz, I, I don't know how to dance."

"It's fine, I can show you." Before she could protest anymore, Quartz swung her around and held her in the proper position. Did it feel weird? Was the fact she was taller make it a little weird? "Quartz, I really don't think.."

"We can take it slowly if you want to. I haven't had much practice with a partner to be honest." Quartz admitted, realizing now he might be taking this a little to fast. "Sorry if I rushed it."

"No, it's fine, I want to dance with you!" Why was everything that came out of her mouth weird? "Just, just take it one step at a time, please." With a simple nod, Quartz slowly pressed forward, signaling Connie to step back. It was still a little weird for her, but it was a good weird, she thought so at least. Smiling, she let Quartz take a lead as the circled around the living room. Every minute or so she would step out of line or Quartz would step on her toe, but she didn't mind that much. She never garnered many eyes around her peers much before, but for the first time, she knew what it felt like to be the center of attention.

For the soft spoken book worm, it was an experience she didn't want to miss out on.

Meanwhile, back with the two teens, the conversation was going in a much less desired direction, at least for Marco. Behind Star's tail, he tried to talk her out of the dance, only for each attempt to be in vain as the princess pulled out an assortment of dresses for to go out in. "You're making a huge mistake, Star."

"Maybe. It wouldn't be the first time he's burned me." Star, despite semi-agreeing with what her friend was saying, still cheerfully searched through her selection until she found a dress covered in various forms of pink. "But it could be fun."

That uncomfortable feeling in Marco's gut sunk further as he grabbed a sombrero and placed it on his head. "But why take the risk when everything you have is at casa Diaz: Magic, nachos, T.V, your friends. Why go out at all when you can stay here, where it's _always fun!_ Like, guaranteed."

"Well, this is a different kind of fun. You'll understand once you ask Jackie out. Now don't look, I'm going to change." Pressing a button on her mirror, it expanded to resemble the doors of a store changing room.

Complying, Marco turned to the side and placed the sombrero on his shoulder to block his view. "I just don't trust Tom. Maybe I should go with you."

"Marco, you weren't invited. If you come to the underworld without an invite, let's just say you'll be glad they melt the eyeballs of most of their victims before the begin torturing." Slipping through her outfit like a glove, she pointed her wand at her face. "Besides, you got to learn to trust me to do the right thing for mySEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLFFFF." A whole wave of purple energy bombarded the Princess like a fierce wind, only changing the way her hair was being held.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Totally, totally. Just got to learn not to use magic. On my face."

As usual, Marco had to call her well meaning judgment into question. "I'm just saying, guys like Tom, never change."

"Aren't you guys the ones who tell me people can change? Don't you remember the whole thing with Lobster Claws?"

"Yeah, and we both know how well that turned out." He'd almost forgotten how much that punch to the face hurt.

"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out." Putting on her final boot, she presented herself in full. Covered in hearts and bows, Star was set to go out for the evening. "How do I look?"

"You look, amazing." Marco said with pure awe and astonishment. Not that he had much experience with appreciating a person's beauty, blame his attraction to Jackie for that, but he would admit that she looked cute and adorable, like a lost puppy following you home. Yeah, that's what it was. "Don't go." He whispered.

"I'm totally going." She whispered back before ringing the tiny bell Tom had given her. A strangely loud ring came that shook the entire house. No sooner after that, fire erupted from the unworldly depths, and arriving from it was a gargoyle like creature pulling a wheel-less carriage by it's neck, the doors opening like it was some sort of elevator. "Hmm, smell like burnt toast."

Marco was silent as she entered, unable to move. This was scary, not the same unknown wacky scary that he was usually subjected to, but scary, like 'damn you to eternal suffering and brimstone' scary.

"Alight, let's get this show on the road." Star sat peacefully in her ride.

"Which floor?" The 'driver' asked.

"Hm, I guess the bottom?" She guessed. It wasn't like there was anywhere else she could go.

"Okay Star, let me just ride with you.." His charming concern was pushed to the side as Star gently kicked him away from the carriage.

"Good bye, Marco!" The doors slowly closed as she descended into the fiery pit. "She you after the _Blood Moon Ball, ooooooooooooooooo…"_ Marco was useless to watch as his friend stuck with her choice, and after another flash of fire, she was gone without a trace. He knew that Star wasn't incapable of fighting for herself, but if he was around, why should she have to?

He train of thought was interrupted as Connie and Quartz made their way upstairs, still somewhat dancing as they reached Star's room. "Did we miss something."

"No, not really. Marco glumly made his way out of Star's room and into the kitchen. Might as well mope with a full belly. "Just everything."

* * *

As one of the biggest, if not _the_ biggest events in underworld history, unholy creatures from all around made their way to the main event. Torches were lit everywhere, sounds of mourning, moaning, and foreboding organ music echoed throughout the unworldly pit of despair. Goblins and Demons entered the hall with axes, maces, and whatever their devices of torture they could bring in celebration.

But despite how grand the event sounded, many held eyes of contempt and anger, and not just because more than half the guess had the urge to brutally extinguish all the life they could find. Tonight, the ball held a aura of safety. There was a feeling somebody was trying to tame down the glorious chaos they've all come to celebrate and yearn for.

Those feelings and fears were soon proven true as one of the main torturers set up a 'decoration' of a skeleton, binding it by the neck and limbs to truly bring out the lifelessness. Raining his weapon of choice, the hooded figures prepared to smash the skeleton into pieces, when the Prince himself stopped the execution.

"Whoa, whoa, hey guys, cool it down for just a second." The Prince's worried and scared toned was jarring enough for the two, but the lack of anger really threw them for a loop. "I don't know what you're about to do, but I want to keep things low key for Star."

Of course. This was all for a girl. "You want to turn the Blood moon ball into your own personal greeting card holiday, than be my guest." One of the two passive aggressively said, though because the skeleton had no lips and the hooded figure's face was covered, it was impossible to tell who said it.

"Okay, which one of you guys said that?"

"I did."

"No, whoever said that, raise your hand."

"Master Tom, Princess Butterfly had arrived." One of the big horned guards announced as the 'elevator' reached it's destination, popping out from it the guest of honor herself. In awe, Star admired the place she though she would never find herself in again. The same fire, the same shadows, and the same atmosphere of terror that left mental scares for years. "Wow, it's as beautifully gloomy as I remembered."

"Star Butterfly." Tom greeted. His attire was now a white tuxedo with a red bowtie. "Don't you clean up nicely."

Given the standard Demon's live by, she didn't know whether or not she should be offended by that. "Thank you, I guess."

"Here, I got you this." It was a dead, at least that's what she assumed, spider. "It's a hair thing. It goes in your hair, you know, to help you fit in around here." Tom attempted to place it on the giant bun of her hair, only to have Star back away awkwardly.

"Yay, wow, you're sooo sweat Tom, but I kinda have my own thing going own, my own hair and everything, so let's just go have fun now!" She slipped into the main hall.

Tom was once again tempted to erupt in flames. She just ignored what he was trying to do for her, and she didn't care. What was her deal!? She was only here because of him, so if he said she was going to wear a deadly spider in her hair, than she was going to..

"Tom." A gentle shoulder from his anger manager cooled him down. "You can be positive, but your anger is negative." Presenting his bunny, Tom smiled and petted it. With a new wave of confidence, he followed his soon to be once again girlfriend into the main room.

Just one dance. He had to hold it together for one dance and everything will go back to normal. He would be able to be normal.

* * *

The phenomenon of the Blood Moon wasn't just for the underworld, for as the night set, the red light of the moon shined as the moon rose higher into the night sky. With Star gone, the options the trio had were a little more limited, and just not the same without the boundless energy she always provided.

Quartz took his time to breathe as Marco told him how he failed to sway Star. It was a lot to know she would be in _that place_ with _that guy_ for an entire night. A huge blow to his head, that was for sure. To take everyone's mind off of the terrible events that had transpired, they took the time to dress themselves in fancy entire and have their own unofficial Blood Moon Ball.

Marco placed the sombrero back on as he wore a black tuxedo with hints of gold at the ends of the coat, as well as round gold shoulder pads. Connie slipped into one of Star's dress that she had left out, a simple ocean blue with bright red shoes, while Quartz wore a black suit with a matching black bow tie.

But despite being the one to suggest it, Marco's participation in tonight's events just extended to him sitting lazily on a lawn chair, stuffing his face with tortilla chips as he slightly tapped his foot and fingers to the whatever tune that played on his radio. More eagerly, Quartz moved in a more upbeat motion, swinging his arms all around while Connie mostly danced in small motions. "That's right, I'll have my own blood moon ball." Marco tried to brag, only to sound more defeated as he kept the chips coming. "In Star's bedroom. Where it's always fun."

"Yeah, who needs the fire pits and rivers of blood?" Quartz asked with a little more sincerity as he led the dance to the outside porch, where the moonlight was shining prominently on them. "We have a perfect view of the moon right here!"

Connie would added something to the cheering, but for a brief moment, her eyes directed her to the light of the Blood Moon. She spent many nights gazing outside before. All alone while everyone else was asleep, it was like the entire sky was hers alone.

But the moon tonight, the Blood Moon, it was a rarity among rarities. A beautiful sea of red washed over the moon's skin. Every glow of white, every hint of gray, was replaced with gleaming crimson that felt mesmerizing the more she looked at it.

"Careful Connie." Quartz voice, like a beautiful song, slowly captured her attention. "You wouldn't want to.." Why was he still talking? Why was she doing nothing? She needed to have him close. "What are.." She placed her hand on his strong arms. Despite the muscle, they felt pretty soft, like a pillow she could sink her head into. "Connie, snap out of it."

SNAP

"What the.." Connie's eye's were caught out of the trance they were in as she shook her head. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"That's what I was trying to tell you." He didn't seem offended by her actions, so she would just keep that moment to herself and tell no one. "You probably shouldn't stare at the moon to long. They say even a small amount of light has magic."

Marco hardly heard the conversation as he tried to drown out everything from today. Maybe he was just being prideful. He spent way too much time focusing on this anyway. It wasn't like Star and him were dating. Who she dated was her business, just like who he dated was his.

 _ **Blood Moon tonight.**_

Turning his head, he tried to figure where the raspy old voice came from. Quartz was the only one talking but it didn't sound anything like the high bouncy voice the boy had. Maybe focusing on Star's ex was driving him crazier than he thought.

 _ **The moon of lovers.**_

The only place the voice could've come from was the old sailor that hung from Star's wall. But that was only a painting, so how could it be talking to him? Then again, it was on Star's wall, so how could it not talk to him? And exactly what did it mean by the lovers bit? "Hey Quartz, you wouldn't happen to know if the Blood Moon ball has anything weird about it? Like, does it do something to people or anything like that?"

"Oh yeah. I don't know a lot, but the gist of it is that when two people dance under the pure red light of the moon, the two will become bound to each other forever, or something like that." Quartz shrugged. "Honestly, I never thought a would ever see one."

With a long and quiet stare at the little bell, Marco knew what he had to do tonight. "Quartz, I have to get down their right now. I have a bad feeling about what Tom's planning, so I have to get down their as soon as possible." He was prepared to ring the bell, but Quartz took away the hammer before he could.

"Marco, you wouldn't get pass the guard if you went now. Didn't Star warn you about the melting eye thing?" Marco nodded slowly. "Besides, Star said she wanted to do this."

"I know, but this, she could be putting herself in danger and she probably doesn't even know it, which is why you have to come down with me. As her friend, and as her brother, we can't allow that to happen if we know something about it." Quartz paused as he raised his hand to his chin. "Come with me so we can at least warn her before Tom tries anything. She shouldn't go through with it if she doesn't know the whole story. Isn't that fair.?"

"Fine." Quartz handed over the bell. "But we're going to need disguises if we're going to get past Tom. We need to look scary, horrifying, and equally fashionable."

* * *

Despite the trio's urgency to get Star out of what they assumed to be near torment, the actual ball turned out to be very, very tame. Like almost abnormally tame, by underworld standards at least. Nobody was trying to kill each other or suck out each other's guts like a straw, or even bludgeon each other with mallets or axes.

Right now, the majority of the couples were impatiently waiting in line to take a photo, the two holding up the line smiling as a strange pink substance was dumped over them. They seemed happy despite this, with most of the demons in line either cheering them or crying tears of joy. "Such a beautiful sight." Spoke the camera man in a whispery voice.

"Star, I cannot tell you how happy I am to be covered in blood with you." Even for Star, that sentence was just way too weird. "But don't worry, it's not real. It's from a unicorn."

"My best friend is a unicorn."

"Well, they're not related."

"I'm not going to bathe in unicorn blood with you, Tom." Star stepped her foot down as Tom reached behind his back as he did what Star could only describe as scratching his rear, but Tom, despite the rudeness thing, wasn't a slob. "What's that hand doing back there?"

"Nothing, nothing! He blocked Star's view as much as he could, but Star manage to peek at what he was doing. His anger manager was ducked way down on the floor, holding the bunny up for Tom to calm his nerves. It didn't seem to work as before as each pet became more and more aggressive.

"Tom, are you getting angry? If you're unhappy here, we can do leave if you want."

Her concerned for him dies tremendously as he snapped back. "No, I'm just, thinking of what to do next!" It sounded like he was being strangled to say that.

"Whatever. You do you, boo. I'm going to get a drink." Tom grinded his teeth as Star left. Star, grumbling at Tom's irritation, was able to put it to the side for a moment as she became distracted by the punch bowl. Aside from the fact it was a bubbling cauldron, a fish's skeleton popped up every once in a while. "Hey Henry!" Most of the guest began staring more and more as she got more excited about the fish than anything else at the Ball so for. "I named him Henry." She explained to any goblin that looked at her funny.

"You!" A high whiney voice shouted from behind. The source was some sort of head creature guy, with a huge head right where his torso and chest should be. "You're Toms date."

Despite knowing this was a date, Star find it a bit weird to be referred to as such. "Ah, I guess I am?"

"Well, I hope you're happy! He made this whole entire ball completely boring! All because he wants to impress you!"

"I wouldn't say it's completely boring." She tried to shrug away the accusation. "Definitely one of the most colorful parties I've been to in a while."

"Oh really, this isn't boring! Groups of attractive people, boring! Cauldrons that don't even melt you're flesh off! What is it, nap time or something!? And to top it all of, it's scattered with random pieces of garbage that don't destroy the universe!" A cockroach comes out of the can he was referring to. "With the stupid bugs that live in it! I've had it, I'm done! Ahhhhh!" Screaming his frustration, he fled the scene, leaving Star a bit speechless.

"Hey, you want to dance?" The bat like creature standing behind the other guy looked a lot less offended, making Star feel just a little more comfortable.

"Nice try, but her dance card is full for tonight." Tom floated right in before Star could give her answer.

"Oh, I see. You think that like, your soul, and like, her soul, will be picked out and go hmmmm." He explained that last part by sliding his fingers in-between each other.

"What is hmmm?" Star imitated as Tom did his best not to answer. Unbeknownst to either, three late comer's snuck in without much notice or commotion, though if anybody pay anymore attention to them, it would've been obvious that they were just three kids in skeleton masks. The most interesting thing about them at all was the pink lion they were riding on.

"Okay, we've got here, so what's the plan?" The main rider, Quartz, looked to the back of his trusty pet, whose masks had a long thin mustache.

Marco struggled to maintain a balance on the animal's fur, slipping on his left side when they reached a full stop. "Was it really necessary to bring him along, especially in a elevator? Cat hair isn't the easiest thing to wash out you know."

"Sorry, but we needed to look as fancy and terrifying as possible, and nothing screams that more than a semi-tame pink lion."

Marco swore the roar that came out of the beast was filled with smug undertones aimed at him. "Just make sure to lay low. Find Star, and try to slip out unnoticed, got it?" Quartz and Connie nodded as Marco tilted his hat down more, shielding him in shadow as he mixed into the crowd.

"So I got to ask, is the Underworld another dimension, or is it legitimately the 'bad place' for all unfortunate souls." Connie asked with fear and excitement overwhelming her. Her palms sweated from both the heat and the thought of eternal punishment.

"Well, I wouldn't call the underworld a bad place." Quartz answered, not catching ono to Connie's fears. "I mean, considering there's no sea's of lava trying to leak from the floor, I say the underworlders clean up nicely for social events."

"No, what I meant was.." Was she thinking to hard on this? Was she even old enough to be asking these kind of questions. "I mean, on Earth, a few people believe in.." She notices all the big horned and red eyed creatures swarming through the place, each one looking more mean as she continued. Horns on heads, eyes, arms, legs. Some were just a head or just a arm. She swore she saw a giant floating baby head somewhere in there. "Whoa." With her increased starring, some of the freakier and bigger guys looked like they were taking offense to it. "Sorry, I don't mean to stare."

"Hey, don't get too freaked out by these guys. They're probably just angry because nothing here can obliterate someone in a blink of an eye. A lot Demons usually can't go an hour without trying to maim someone." Even Quartz felt Connie's sudden chill up the spine as he said that. "Sorry, just blend in and stay close to me, alright?" Once again, the two kids found themselves holding each other in a dance position. It was parties like these that proved to Connie she didn't belong in anything extravagant or special, but having Quartz this close to her began to change her mind.

" Good evening, ladies and gentlebrem." The microphone boomed, catching everyone's attention and turning their heads to a demon with a powdered wig and black robe. "It is my pleasure that I may bequest you now to turn you're head skyward." A smile section of the ceiling sticks out, revealing a small crescent shaped whole in the middle of it. "When the light of the blood moon drobbles down, and selects two lucky souls, binding them together for all eternity, in it's hypnotic, ruby, brodem."

Star, Quartz, and half the people in the room could only stare in awe at how amazing this actually sounded. "Wow, this doesn't sound too bad at all to be honest." Connie spoke as she and Quartz waltzed there way pass the crowds, slipping through the cracks and openings quite easily. "If this finds your soulmate, than how bad can it be?"

"It's bad if Tom thinks he and Star will get it." Quartz explained with a narrow expression. About 5 feet away, he had spotted Tom with Star, standing side by side. He hated to admit it, but they looked, alright together. Star seemed to be perfectly content, and she didn't have any scorch marks or anything on her.

The crowd began huddling close together as the organ played an eerie melody, signaling all the creatures to couple up. The moon's bright red light seeped into the hall, moving itself all around to find that special couple. It truly was a grand sight to see.

Too bad Tom failed to see that. "No, no, no! That's the wrong piece of music!" His muscles tensed up, but he resisted melting the organists face off. "This is going to drive me crazy. Don't go anyway." Star nodded with a bit of a daze in her voice as she wandered off anyway, feeling compelled to move by the organ's harmony. "Listen, I need.."

"What do you need exactly, Tom?" Quartz demanded from behind.

"What the hel.., I mean, Quartz, glad you could make it." His voice was now at his most uneasy. Why did this brat had to show up now? "And Quartz's friend, welcome to the underworld. Not everyday a Prince asks you out, am I right?"

"We're not here to say high, we're here to discuss you're ulterior motives." Connie snapped back with more bluntness than she intended. "We know the blood moon ball is more than just an excuse to dance with Star."

"What? I, I had not idea what you're, I mean, if I've never been insulted before, I.." Tom dropped the act once the two crossed their arms. "To heck with it, guard." The big horned goon that greeted them at the elevator came in from out of nowhere and easily swooped the two into his big meaty hand, somehow not bothering the surrounding guests. "Hello? Remember the deal we had? You would give the chance if I cleaned myself up!"

"I did keep my promise! I even told Star about how you were trying to change!" Quartz wiggled to no avail. "We didn't even do anything yet. All we did was ask you what you were up to."

"Oh. I, ha, this is kind of an overstep then. Really, really should've looked before I leap, right." Crap, there goes impressing the brother in law (yes, he thought that far ahead, don't judge him). "So, you won't just let this go, will you?"

"What do you think?"

"Look, just, just give me this, alright!" He didn't even care about keeping his temper cool anymore. This kid was in his way for the last time. "I admit, the break up was my fault, so isn't it good that I'm trying to fix it? That I've went through all this trouble for counseling, that I haven't even once tried to set your hair on fire, or tortured one soul!? Shouldn't that give me credit?!"

"..You shouldn't be doing that in the first place!" Connie yelled. What could she say? Her first 'date' (was it weird she counted this as a date? Did Quartz count it as a date? Probably not.) inspired some confidence. "There's a difference between being nice and having common sense. I've just met you, but I can tell that you don't have either!"

"Shut it, brat! This dance is my last chance to show her I'm the only one for her! I'm the one she can turn to when things go wrong. I'll be the one, the only one she'll ever.."

"Don't tell her to shut up!" Quartz wanted to throw himself at the teen. "You still can't see how selfish you're being!"

"I'm literally doing this for her, how is that selfish!?"

As the endless back and forth faded into the background unnoticed, Star twirled around the room, starring up at the ceiling. Something about the music made her lose herself. As she wandered around aimlessly, Marco, not so conspicuously, trailed her, whispering her name as he kept himself down. She didn't seem to hear him, and all he was really doing was earning a few weird looks from the other guests. "Star, come on." Running up, he grabbed her arm from behind, and pulled her closer than he expected.

If Star's mind wasn't so lost and relaxed at that moment, she would punched this random guy in the face and called for help. But even so, both teens were unable to do anything else as the music stopped for a brief second, and the entire room went dark, the only light being the full beam of the blood moon, and it's entire red shine reigned over one spot only.

The spot where Star and Marco were standing.

As the music picked up speed, Marco was compelled to continue. For a brief second, he almost forgot why he was here. Pulling her forward, he twirled her around effortlessly, having no intention on stopping now, mostly because the Blood Moon's light seemed to follow them around no matter where they went. It was like two pieces of a puzzle finally came together to complete a beautiful picture.

Star breath was taken away as this handsome, dashing, and somewhat familiar stranger confidently took her hand and swung her around. Every step they made, every pause, every swerve, every twirl was perfect. Her eyes were completely planted on her partner, with every feeling, every thought in her head telling her to never stop this. She would make this moment last forever if she was able to.

Of course, with the Blood Moon being in effect, all the surrounding guests took watch of the spectacle, with every violent tendency, every blood thirsty thought drained from them. Despite the ball being rather lame, this one moment, beautiful, grand, and historical, made it all worth it.

Except for the Demon prince, who's suit began emitting smoke. The fire burned holes as he stomped forward, his intention very clear to his two hostages. "Tom, don't!" Quartz loudly whispered as both Connie and him doubled their efforts to free themselves.

"I got it!" Connie, gulping, leaned her head back and bit right into the guards fist, making him instantly let them go. Not spending the time to celebrate, both kids grabbed on to a piece of Tom that wasn't spewing smoke, slowing him down for the moment.

"Star." Marco lightly tried to get her attention, though she seemed too high on cloud nine to notice it. His voice was so familiar to her too. Just who was this main of mystery? And when was the legal age she could get married?

"How, how did you know my name?" Star managed to say in her dreamy state. It was a miracle that she managed to remember her own name. She was certain of only one thing now. This guy, whoever he was, needed to be in her life. Whoever he was, every moment of her life now, every minute would be dedicated knowing who this guy was. She would forever pledge herself to the man that stole her..

"Star it's me! Marco." The teen lifted his mask for a moment to prove it.

Crap. That'll make things awkward later. "Marco!? What are you doing here?" Why were they still dancing? And why did she want to keep dancing?

"Come on, we need to get out of here. This place is the worst."

"MARCO, WATCH OUT!" Before Marco could turn his head, he was greeted by the angered face of Tom, shoving him hard out of the spotlight, inadvertently making Star back away as well. Behind him was Quartz and Connie, who, after holding on to Tom for so long, lost their footing and got flung forward, pushing Tom out of the way from the whiplash, making Quartz and Connie the only two in the light of the Blood Moon. For a brief second, as the two held hand to help each other up, they froze and just looked at each other, unsure of what they were doing.

That feeling didn't last long as the room went dark again before returning to it's normal light. The Blood Moon was over, and Tom just lost his chance.

"Tom?" The demon didn't know who spoke out, and he didn't care. Suddenly, all breathing stopped, all movement froze, and Tom's eyes glowed a murderous red.

"That, that dance, WAS MEANT, FOR ME!" Tom exploded with rage, lighting up every section of the hall, block all exits with his hellfire. The guests that complained before were now whimpering in the corner, afraid of earning the Prince's wrath. "You took away what was MINE!" Marco could only crawl away, too weak and too afraid to stand up as Tom moved closer. Brian ran towards him to calm him down, but he was quickly shoved away. The time for calm was over. Now someone needed to burn.

SHING. "Tom, you got to stop now!" Quartz immediately jumped into the fray and shielded Marco. "If you're going to fry him, you'll have to fry me too!"

An evil grin killed any confidence the kid had. "I'm good with that!" Raising himself high above, he flooded his flames on the floor, preparing to engulf the two in the blaze. Yes, this would be the end to all his troubles! All he needed to do was destroy them, and he'll finally be free to...

He didn't even get the change to lunge at them as he was completely encased in a block of ice from Star's wand, leaving the demon prince frozen in his angry terror. Unimpressed, Star blasted Tom one more time, turning his '50 days' pin to a 0. "Come one guys, lets go." She didn't bother looking back at her 'saviors'.

The other three hardly complained as they jumped into the elevator with her, though the ride back up was a little more quiet then they would've liked. Star's face remained frustrated, except for the few moments where she would pet Lion's mane. Quartz, Marco, and Connie felt as if they shouldn't say anything else, knowing how awkward the last few minutes have already been. More specifically, what was with that dance? Why didn't they just flee when Marco grabbed her? Was it hypnotism or something like that.

That question had no real answer, and for the while at least, they didn't really care to answer it. As soon as the elevator reached Star's room, she took off her white boots and hopped out, leaving Marco behind to squeeze his way pass Lion, while Quartz and Connie pushed against the wall as hard as they could. "So infuriating."

Marco couldn't help but agree. "Well I hate to say it, but I did try to warn you about Tom."

"No, you, you're infuriating!" Star clarified. There was a brief silence so quiet that the two heard the other three occupants 'pop' out of the elevator, listening very intently. "I know you dragged them down there tonight, so yeah, I mad at you."

"Well, yeah I did." This wasn't the thanks he was expecting. "But I was only trying to help."

"You don't trust me to do things by myself." She accused. "That's kind of the whole reason why I'm on earth to begin with. I'm 14. I've fallen from mountains, tangled with snakes, I can handle a demon." The silence returned again, making the other three guilty while the lion just slept, content with what he had done today. Quartz didn't say anything else, other than looking up at his sister a bit solemnly. Star placed an arm around him and brought him in close. "I know you guys are just trying to look out for me, but I need to be able to figure stuff on my own. I don't need a hero. I need a friend."

Marco gasped in realization, but said nothing. There really was nothing to be said after that. He had gone with Star on countless escapades. They were fun, exciting, exhalating, dangerous, and filled his need for action in life. But the one thing he always saw was the recklessness that always seemed to follow. Tonight, he only chose to see that recklessness, almost like how Tom saw Star as something that belonged to him. Throwing off the masks, he leaned on the edge while facing away from his best friend. "I'm sorry. I, I should've trusted you."

"And, and I'm sorry things didn't work with Tom." Quartz's apology was something Star honestly didn't expect, not that he really had anything to apologize for.

"It's alright. At least I know for sure I was right to break up with him." Star patted his head before shrugging. "Besides, I wouldn't call tonight a total disaster." Grabbing Marco's hat, she placed it on her own head. "Now I know that you can dance."

Both chuckled at the same time, mostly because Marco's hair was now a complete mess. "Ha, hat hair." Both of them spoke at the same time. "Wow, we both said.." Their scary synchronization was starting to get a little freaky. "..the same thing! Stop that!" Both of them covered their mouths to prevent them from saying anything else. Star, on reflex, pointed her wand at him for extra reassurance.

Not even 10 seconds passed before all four of them erupted with laughter. "Ha, cool" This time, Connie and Steven spoke in unison, only adding to the laughter that the kids so desperately needed.

"Now that's new." Star laughed it off as she finally calmed down. "Now go make me some nachos!" The princess demanded, and Marco willingly complied, leading her to the kitchen.

"Haha, so should I starting preparing the wedding now, or should I give them some time?" Quartz turned his attention back to Connie, who's eyes really glowed under the blood moon's light. He wondered if anyone else ever noticed that.

"Hm, nah, give it a minute to rest. I've read enough books to know how messing ships can be." Connie leaned against Lion like he was a bed. "Man, is it that late? I should probably head home now before Mom blows her top off."

"Hm, tell me about it. Lion can get you there on time, hop on, milady." Quartz insisted as he jumped on Lion himself, holding out his hand for her.

Seeing no reason to object, Connie took his hand. Within seconds, Quartz and Connie rode into the night. The girl unknowingly held onto Quartz tightly, feeling safe and secure with him by her side. She closed her eyes resting in the soft glow of the Blood Moon, which seemed to shine more brightly on them then anywhere else.

* * *

 _Original Chapter next time. See what happens when Quartz takes his own trip around the universe._


	18. PB&J

**Wow, a lot has happened in the past month, especially in regards to the series finale of Star vs the forces of evil. And yes, I have seen the finale, which I wont spoil for anyone who hasn't, but here are some of my thoughts on it:**

 **I thought it was a good ending. Yes, while I can agree that it could've been way, WAY better than what we've got, it probably should've been a longer finale.**

 **Furthermore, a lot of things could've been expanded upon. Janna just kind of showed up out of nowhere and it felt weird since she really didn't do anything that warranted the growth they sort of indicate near the end. The blood moon ball resolution fell very flat, Globgoar was great and I wish he got more screen time, the sudden return to earth felt a bit off, and of course, the shipping just went in every direction that I think the creators almost forget which one was the endgame. I actually think season 4 over was pretty good in terms of the monster acceptance subplot. It's been around since season one, and it has had great development. I think my favorite part about it was the fact that it showed both sides of the problem. Yes, the whole prejudice the mewmans have is wrong, but the way Eclipsa choose to initially handle it was wrong too, and the people were right to be wary.**

 **So it could've been better, but as an end for the show, it was fine, average, and at least it had an ending people could accept and was built up, albeit flimsily. As for this story, now that the show has ended, I can definitely say I have a concrete ending in mind, as well as how I'm going to intertwine the four seasons with the 5 of Steven Universe, especially to the timeline of events from each show.**

 **Anyways, I own nothing, and enjoy.**

* * *

Star was never one to call herself a 'morning person'. Sure, she loved waking up to breakfast and her family every morning, but the process of waking up was a whole other mater to deal with, especially when you're the house guest of a goody like Marco, who at the moment proceeded to barge into her room with those dreaded books she never bothered to read.

"Star, time to get up." Marco rudely interrupted her slumber as she did her best to drown him out. It didn't help the Marco dumped the books on the floor. "School doesn't start later just because you get up later."

"Well, maybe it should." She murmured into her bed before pulling her face out of her pillow. "You'd think they would know the teachers job's would be a little easier if they just started school later. Why else would half the class be sleeping during first period?"

"I'm pretty sure a teacher's job is designed to never be easy. Besides, you're not tired because you have to wake up early, it's because you spent the entire night hanging out with your brother." The boy's eyeroll couldn't have been stronger on the princess.

"It's not my fault we have so much fun together. When the opportunity strikes, we take full advantage of it."

"All you guys did was bounce in a bubble for three hours."

"Hey, bubble time is when we're able to do out deepest thinking and express our innermost thoughts. Besides, that was only for two hours. The last hour we played volleyball, with him as the ball."

"Whatever, we're going to be late as it is, so chop, chop." Star refused to move and buried herself back under her sheets. Turning around, he grabbed the tail end of her blanket and pulled it off as he left the room.

"Fiiiiiinnnneeee, I'll get up." She slowly emerged knowing she would return to bed anytime soon. She didn't even bother to take the time to show, having already slept in her usual attire. Grabbing her headband and purse, she walked out without grabbing anything else. "Lucky Quartz. He doesn't go to school. I bet he doesn't have to deal with morning like this."

* * *

"That's the last time I volunteer to be the ball." An equally groggy Quartz moved his body slowly as they day greeted him all too early. Usually the kid was the type to greet the morning back with a bright smile and a hello, but today was not that kind of day. Last night's events had left the boy almost completely drained.

"Why did I agree to be the ball for an hour? Was it for cookie cats? I already have lion for dimension hopping, so there's no real leverage there anymore." He pondered to himself as he tripped over himself getting out of the door. "Did she really have to use the wand for it? I already float, no need to hit it that hard."

At least today wasn't going to be soo chaotic. Sure, Mom's training later was going to be a killer, but at least he could prepare for that. There's never preparing when it came to Star, and for someone seeking a quiet day today, that was something he intended to avoid for now.

"I mean, she still has a lot of stuff to do back on earth. I shouldn't be bothering her so much." He told himself, though the voice in his head was telling him to be honest: he needed a break from Star. "That doesn't make me a bad brother, right?"

"Ah Quartz, what are you talking about? Taking a moment to actually open his eyes, he saw he somehow made his way to the dining room without noticing, and his dad was starring oddly at him as he gobbled down his morning meat on a stick.

"Oh, nothing." Actually, his dad was the perfect person to talk to about this. "Hey, so you always go out whenever Mom's not around.."

"..Something that's only presumed to be true.." The king shouted out loud, searching for any signs of his wife. "..It's just so silly to think about fighting monsters when there's so much work to be.."

"Dad, this isn't like the time Mom wanted to know who kept eating her pies. I'm totally asking this without her oversight. Also, I never said anything about monsters, so you kind of gave yourself away there." Just another one of the few secrets he had to keep from Mom, yay.

"OOOH GOOD!" River exasperated with relief. "Ah, what I mean is, thank you. She just doesn't under the importance of keeping the offensive. Our defenses can only do so much for the average corn-napper. Anyways, ask away, my boy."

"So you always sneak out to fight monsters because you need a break from what you usually do." Quartz continued, feeling a little less guilty about asking now. "So it's not bad to just go out and not do what you do?"

"Why of course not. I may be King, but that doesn't mean I abandon what I love to do. Camping, hunting, getting down and dirty just to feel alive again, and sometimes just smashing a nearby rock so I can re-feel the strength I had in my youth!" River got a little more excited than Quartz expected, actually standing on the table now. "Is that the feeling you get?"

"Sort of, but kind of the exact opposite." Quartz admitted, making the king slightly frown. "I've been hanging out on Earth with Star the entire day, and don't get me wrong, I love ever minute we're together, and hate when we have to be apart, but sometimes, sometimes it can feel like a little to much whenever we do something."

"Quartz, what you have is not a problem. You just need an entire day to yourself." River scooted closer to his son and held his shoulder. "You're growing up quickly, you're power are growing, you're emotions are becoming bigger and more sensitive.."

"Wait wha.." Was this turning into another awkward father-son talk?

"..and soon you'll starting dating and have to win the approval of the girl's family,, which trust me, is a life accomplishment all on it's own. Hey, have I ever mention the time Moon-Pie's cousins try to roast me alive over.."

"Dad, what does this have to do with me and my situation?"

"Absolutely nothing. I just needed to rant a little." River admitted. "The point being, is that you are just a little bird, sitting in the nest. But soon, you will become a mighty eagle and leave the nest, soaring the skies to parts unknown. This is your time to get ready, my son. Go, flap your wings and fly!"

"But, but I still have stuff I need to do with Mom.."

"GO OUT AND FLY!"

"Okay, okay!" Quartz jump out of his seat and flew into the hallway with a new energy carrying. "I shall fly!"

"Yes, go my child, fly, fly away!" River continued to praise, unaware of his wife's sudden entrance.

"Moon, did you see where Quartz was going? We got a full day planned, and I would like to hop to them quickly."

"Forget about it! He's going out flying, Moon Pie. Our little boy is finally becoming an eagle!"

It looked like training today was going to have to wait. "So is that just your way of saying you don't know?"

"Okay, okay, planning, planning..." Quartz once again spoke to himself as he reentered his room, this time with a notebook in hand. "Today is a day just for you, so what do you want to do with it?" That was kind of a hard question to ask. "If I were me, what would I tell myself what to do?"

The first obvious answer was of course 'hang out with Star', though he crossed that out right away, right before he also placed a question mark beside it. "Just keep all options open." Right, so what did he like to do? "Okay, so music for one, that's a thing. Ohh, and cookie cats. Wouldn't hurt to visit that dimension today."

Wait a minute, he had Lion! "Oh lion!" The pet didn't answer his call. "Oh my loyal and obedient pet, where art thou today?" He dramatically moped, swinging his arms back and forth. "Haven't thou abandoned me in my time of need? Oh, the sweet sorrow, for I long for my pink companion, who has shown to care not for my dilemma." Did it work? He looked to every corner in his room. Nothing, as usual. "I'll by you a lion licker later."

Thump. Out of nowhere, the Lion appeared from behind and immediately began sniffing the boy. "No, no, I-I don't have one r-ight, stop that! Your nose tickles!" The beast pinned him to the ground, showing neither disappointment or thrill at seeing his 'owner'.

"Oh you silly pink cat, you just like getting in trouble, don't you?" Lion responded with a neutral growl. Quartz took it as a yes. "Ready to spend the entire day together and get our hands dirty together? Well, paws in your case. Blink if you answer is yes." The beast remained unmoved. "We can go see Heckapoo again." The Lion immediately lifted the kid on it's back. "I'll never understand why you don't like her. Anyways, we can't go now, I have to get ready." Quickly slipping off his companion, Quartz dove into his closet to pick something out. "Okay, no Star today, so no armor or sword." He wouldn't be looking for trouble, so there wouldn't be any trouble. Instead, the boy opted to wear a simple outfit: A half blue, half yellow shirt with an equally divided pair of pants, along with white shoes. He didn't know why, but blue and yellow really stuck out to him.

"Okay, so first on our list, we go out and explore the forest, than we use you're portal making skills and jump around randomly like you usually do, sound good?" The lion only blinked. "Of course, there's always the chance that Star will try to call me." That would be a problem, but that could be solved easily. "I'll just hop into her room and explain everything. Nothing wrong with doing that."

* * *

"Star, Star, hey Star?" The princess hardly paid attention as she leaned against her window. The bus fortunately found itself moving at a slower pace today, so she was taking in the opportunity to close her eyes. This was the last time she would play volleyball. "Star, Star."

"WHAT?!" Star screamed, nearly stopping the entire bus. She ignored the dozens of stares she was attracting. "What's so important right now!?"

"Chill girl, I was just asking if you were okay." Jana sat right behind her, standing on her own seat and leaning against Star's. "And also if you could make today's bus ride a little more exciting. I found a new curse I can place on people, but it'll only work if I can raise my heart rate. So could you, I don't know, turn this old hunk of metal into a rollercoaster or something."

"Oh yeah, sure, sure." She waved off her friend's request as she tried to comply, reaching into her purse to grab it. "You'll, you'll be super thrilled once I.." the purse feels slightly more empty. "..I, I, I.." she shoves away her sleepiness as she becomes more and more frantic. "..where the heck is my wand?"

"Jana, stop trying to exploit Star." Marco glared at the troublemaker, who just short of shrugged it off. "And Star, just stop listening to her. One moment you think you're having a normal conversation, and the next, you find your wallet half empty and your left shoe missing. Still never got that shoe back."

"Yeah, yeah, you have shoe problems, but I'm in the middle of something important right now." Emptying out her entire purse, she somehow was able to shove both her arms into the tiny item. "I don't have my wand with me!"

Of course Marco knew why Star would be so worried and panicked right now. That wand had basically been the source of any trouble if it wasn't from Star herself. In fact, Marco was certain he never seen her without the precious heirloom in hand. With that said.." I think that may be a good thing." If Star's hands weren't currently stuck in her purse, she would've slapped Marco for saying something so crazy. "At least for today."

"Marco, this is the royal wand we're talking about, the most powerful thing in the universe! The wielder of it could spell the difference between life and death itself! It's not just something you can get rid of so easily, like a phone, or your karate belts."

Marco tried hard not to be offended by that last bit. "Okay, first of all, those belts are trophies of my accomplishments, with each one symbolizing how far I've come in my training, so there's no ever replacing those things. And second of all, you used the wand last night to make popcorn."

"Yeah, I used it to make food, which is what gives me life! Hence what I said before!" She remained unchanged.

Marco rolled his eyes. "Well, the last time you saw the wand was last night, right? So that means the wand is somewhere around the house, right?" It took a while for Star to connect the dots to his logic, but she eventually nodded. "And the last time I checked, a magic wand isn't on the back to school list of supplies, so I think you're good."

"But school is soo much more boring without it! How am I going to blast away those books the teachers always leaves on my desks?"

"You could try not blowing them up and actually try reading them." Star looked a little uneasy at that suggestion. Marco sighed. After the whole thing with Miss Skullnick, it wasn't like getting a good grade was her highest priority. Looked like he needed to tackle this at another angle. "Look, your wand is going to be waiting for you once you get back, so why don't you take the opportunity to shake things up a little. Take as a chance to tackle a difference kind of adventure, a new type of quest that requires you to not have magic."

Star leaned in intrigued. Usually the words school and adventure were far away from each other as possible. " Sounds like a challenge. Tell me Diaz, exactly what kind of adventure are we talking about?"

"Well Star, you may not know this, considering you draw on you desk instead of listening, but everything the teacher's tells us is vitally important for us to hear. Without their sacred knowledge, there is no future for us." He continued in a rather self-important voice to grab her attention.

"My future? But I have so many plans for the future."

"Exactly, and in order to do anything you plan to do in the future, you have to read everything you're given." He handed him the history textbook that she had neglected to read for the umpteenth time already, and that was assuming she actually knew it was a book and not just a fancy coaster. "In this book alone, there's lessons and guides on building nations, trampling empires, and how corn was originally used."

"Well, Mewni does take it's corn very seriously." Star flipped the book open. It actually sounded more exciting. And here she thought history was about old people in cowboy hats playing in dirt. "Aww, boo! This thing's like a thousand pages long!"

"But each page contains information you'll use in life. Pass this challenge, and you'll be ready to pass life."

"Really? I thought I was already amazing at that. Hm, guess there's no harm in doing so!" Standing up from her seat, she proclaimed to the entire bus. "LOOKOUT LIFE, STAR BUTTERLY HAS THE KEY TO KICK YOU IN THE BUTT!" Without anymore thinking, she jumped out the window with the history textbook in hand, forgetting the fact that they were still about a mile and a half away from the school. "I'M OKAY!"

Marco sheepishly looked back at her before sinking into his seat. "That worked a little too well. I just wanted her to be ready for the history test tomorrow."

* * *

Quartz walked up to the Diaz house a little sluggishly, only taking a few small steps every so often. "It's okay, just got explain myself and get out, nothing complicated about that." Why was it so hard to rip the band aid off? It wasn't like he was denouncing her as his sister. "Am I making this too complicated?"

His pet lion just found a spot on the sidewalk and slept, his snore's being the only reply. "Yeah, I'm putting too much worry for something so small. I'll just go up to her and say 'Star, I need time for myself, so I'll be unavailable to you for a day or so. No offense, of course.'" _SNORE._ The pink beast tossed and turned a little. "You're right, Star would phrase it with a lot more pizazz. I shouldn't be boring about it. How about 'Heya sweet sister of mine! I'm off on my own adventures, so don't bother trying to call me today!'" Lion just sort of grumbled. "I love the little talks we have. I learn so much about you I never did before."

With a lot more confidence in his step, Quartz knocked on the door and waited patiently to be let in. What he didn't expect however was a large bucket of red paint to come crashing down on his head. "It already feels like a typical Star greeting."

"Ohhh, so sorry, so very sorry." An upbeat and accented voice chirped from the house, revealing a man in a yellow button shirt and various colors of paint slathered all over his body. "Hehe, here, let me get that for you, just got to wipe a little paint off of, well everywhere."

"No, no, that's fine Mr. Diaz. It's hardly the worst or messiest greeting I've ever had." He reassured as he failed to wipe away the already drying paint. "Though I will say it's the most colorful."

"Oh, don't mind my husband. He was just trying to touch up his latest masterpiece." A lady with long a bushy brown hair invited him inside, not seeming to mind the dripping paint now being printed on the floor. "Say, aren't you Star's little brother, Quartz right? I mean, those little Star's on you kind of give it away."

"That's right madam, Quartz Universe Butterfly: Knight in training, malady." He playfully bowed and planted a small kiss on the women's hand. "Sorry if I'm barging in unexpectedly, I just needed to tell Star something."

"Well, you just missed her. She and Marco are about halfway from school right about now." Mrs. Diaz clarified. "You are more than welcomed to stay until she gets here. Any family of Star's is always welcomed under our roof."

"That's okay, it's nothing I have to tell her in person." And it also conveniently made him feel WAY more relaxed about the whole thing. What was it that Star always said? 'If you can't handle a problem, avoid the problem!'. "I'm pretty sure I can just leave a note in her room or something." Quartz quickly changed his direction to upstairs, only to turn right back around as he spotted what was working on. Occasionally, the grown man would mutter 'no, not right at all' as Quartz tried to piece together what the man was trying to make. "Hey , what exactly are you trying to paint here?"

"Trash! That's what it's going to be if I can't get it right!" The grown man whined a little, even getting a bit teary eyed before immediately realizing his guest was still there. "Oh, sorry little Star brother, I'm just can't seem to get this painting right, no matter how I mix it."

"Really, it doesn't look bad at all." Quartz stared at it for a lot longer. To him, it just looked like a huge swirl of colors all meshed together, but it was at least a pretty swirl. "It fine for ah, rainbow cloud blob...?"

"Aw, I knew it was horrible, I just knew it!" How it was possible for a man's voice to reach such a high pitch, he'll never know. "You're sister has quite the lively influence around the house, so I've been trying to find the perfect way to reflect that magical spark she has into my paintings, but I just can't get it right." Depressed, he drops the paintbrush he was using on the ground. "Marco's lucky. He gets to experience that kind of magic everyday."

"Well, yeah, but she's always been like that, even before she got the wand." Quartz, without really thinking, created a bubble underneath him, and was able to maintain a perfect balance on it. "She just has a way of taking almost any situation and turning it into something extraordinary. She makes slow things go fast, low things high, meetings of high importance into wrestling matches.."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold still." has seemingly ignored most of Quartz's speech as he picked up the paintbrush once more and vigorous splatted more color on his canvas. "I think I have something new here!"

Quartz kept quiet, choosing not to complain, though his feet already began to fall asleep from the lack of movement. "Don't worry about it, inspiration is only part of the process for him." affirmed to the kid. "You'll only need to stand here for at least an hour before the determination and imagination kicks in."

* * *

After nearly passing out from posing, Quartz finally excused himself upstairs as he entered Star's room. Back when she moved out, he wasn't aware of the transportation spell she used to move the entirety of her room to Earth, so Quartz spent a good chunk of the day afterwards paranoid of castle being potentially haunted before his mom explained what happened. Every brick and mortar, every poster, even a few scattered clothes on the floor, pretty much everything was exactly the same. If he closed the door shut and covered any openings to the outside, he would've convinced himself he was still on Mewni.

"You really made yourself feel at home here, didn't you Star?" Quartz spoke out loud to himself, planting himself on Star's bed as he continued to look around. There was even stuff around him that he didn't recognize, magazines for various items that didn't come from quest buy, one of those light switches Star showed him, she really seemed to become familiar with Earth culture already. "You certainly have a life here. With school, with the wand, with magic." A life that didn't really require him to be in the picture.

"That's fine, that's totally fine by me. She's able to have her own thing, I'm able to have my own." He spoke to no one once more. "Now is there a note I can leave here or something?" His sister had such a mess in her room he wondered why she even bothered keeping most of it. "I mean, who leaves have eaten hotdogs and a wand on the floor? That's just a waste." He ripped off Star's bedsheets looking for some paper. "Maybe if still keeps that diary under all this I can just leave a note there." He frisked every inch of the bed looking for it, only to do a bit of a double take once he looked to the ground again, taking more of a notice to their royal heirloom thrown like yesterdays news.

"Star, you didn't, you really didn't." His words hardly did anything to convince himself otherwise as he gazed at the object in all its glimmering beauty. Nowadays, it was more common to get so close to the mystical item, but even so, he still looked at it with giddiness and awe. Despite actually using it twice before, he still questioned if he was worthy to so much as gawk at it. Butterfly upon Butterfly held the wand for generations, and it was only by shear luck that he was able to hold that name.

Which is why it stung him a little to just see it sitting their like it was trash. "You are soo glad Mom doesn't send herself to check on you." With a slow caution, Quartz slowly raised the wand, but it didn't change like it did before. "No need to use it now, just going to give it back anyway." Okay, so his me day was going to be taking a back seat for just a little more today. He wasn't trying to delay anything, he just needed to do something important for the sake of the universe.

"Yeah, I'm not avoiding any problems, I'm solving a problem before leaving all my problems behind me." And besides, wasn't it better to tell something to someone in person? This clearly needed to be addressed face-to-face. "And I clearly should stop talking to myself when I'm alone." Tucking the wand away, he hopped out the ledge of Star's room and floated safely to the ground. "Now exactly where did I leave that rambunctious rascal of a lion?"

"Sir, are you sure this plan is best course of action?" A familiar accented voiced rang in the air, causing the boy to duck and hide by the side of the Diaz house. Sure enough, taking a peak at the side of the house was Ludo and his usual band of cronies. The big frog man followed the bird man obediently despite the objection in his tone. "It sort of feels we've repeated the same plan over and over. Sort of feels a bit lazy."

"Oh, I didn't know you've became the leader in the last 5 seconds, by all means, take charge, take my helmet, heck, take the wand we never seem to grab because of YOUR FAILURES!" Ludo threw his helmet to the ground as Buff Frog stepped back a little. "I'd like to see you get creative after years of the same pattern."

Quartz took out the wand again and wondered what to do. Okay, so these guys didn't know Star was here and didn't know she didn't have the wand on her. "What to do, what to do? What would Star do in this situation?" He asked himself as he looked at his sister's wand. She probably knocked them all away with a single rainbow fist punch. "Wait, what would I do in this situation?" A group of monsters, most incapable of simple tackling, and the last time he checked, he was more of a associate enemy of Ludo than a main rival. With a lightbulb being lit above his head, he took another look at the wand before making it glow once more and strapping it behind his back.

"Hey guys, what exactly are you doing here?" Quartz walked to the group like normal as he eyed their still opened portal to Mewni. Without Lion, this was the best way to get the wand as far away as possible. "Is this another one of those Star traps you always try to pull?"

The other monsters, while initially startled, just sent him confused looks. Not that Star sent the fear of god down their spines, but they learned to be a little wary of the powerful princess. Quartz on the other hand didn't exactly install the same aura of menace they usually associated with Star. "Oh brother, the Princess's brother." Ludo moaned. "Well, what pathetic speech do you want to shove down out throats this week? Teach us to make friendship bracelets out of the sticks you beat us with? Sprinkle us with the magic of friendship as you blast us off again?"

"Ah, I was just asking if I could please use your portal. My ride is kind of out of commission." Later on, the boy would find the pink beast coughing off whole lizard tails, only to swallow them whole again before he could question anything about it.

The monstrous minions only took a second before nodding yes, clearing the way for him to pass on through without any trouble. "Wait, wait, hold it, hold it." Ludo stepped in front of the prince and halted him before he could enter it. "You morons do realize he's the enemy here!? We don't help our enemies! That's just common sense!" The monsters actually looked a bit reluctant to follow that.

"But he helps me all the time. I've learned to be less angry at the world and focus more on my emotional turmoil's." The bear monster chimed in, encouraging more of the minions to speak out.

"He shared his ice cream with my one time. That's a true sacrifice you never forget."

"He waited five minutes for me to catch my breathe before blowing a bubble at my face. The princess would've never been that kind to me."

"If he's the enemy, shouldn't that mean we should treat him better than how he treats us?"

"No it does not! We're the villains here, not the host of a party!" Ludo's screamed made them cower a little. It actually made the little boy wonder why such big and beefy creatures were so submissive to a guy even smaller then himself. "If they beat down one of our own, we beat them back! If they turn their heads, we strike them when they're distracted! We punch below the belt, spit in their eyes, and show no mercy to anyone that dares to pity us!"

"That sounds a little mean and underhanded, don't you think?" The two headed man sheepishly asked.

"That's the, what are, where you even..!" Too flabbergasted to complete his sentence, the little bird man walked around it circle, kicking the grass off as he curse in a language Quartz couldn't quite understand. "Just, just go. You're fortunate enough it's you sister that actually incurs my wrath."

"Okay, I'll be sure to thank my sister the next time I see here." He gleefully addressed Ludo before walking towards to portal again. Finally, it looks like he would finally be out of the woods.

Thunk.

The bright and colorful instrument slid off his back and fell to the ground. Before he could grab it, the giraffe creature, just being generally polite, picked it up to give it back. "Hey, I didn't know you played.." He strummed a single string of the ukulele, unleashing from it a bright purple blast of magic that uppercut him to the ground, leaving everyone to stare more closely at the instrument, more specifically the jewel that was placed at it's top.

"Hah, well you know what they say about the world of music and how hard it can be. That's probably why my mom didn't go anywhere big with her skills. Great teacher though, got to give her that." The monsters were still speechless. "Well, I'll just take my totally normal and not magical ukulele and enjoy the rest of the day far away from here. See ya!" He dashed into the portal before anyone could grab him.

"He has, he has, HE HAS THE WAND!" Ludo screech could be heard all over the neighborhood, though to most, they thought it was the sound of someone running over a cat. "After him, after him, AFTER HIM!"

Quartz found himself on the other side in no time at all, and without real thought going into it, he ended up running into the forest of certain death. Through most of the run, the boy found himself using his floating to jump great distances, though it proved to be troublesome as the momentum made him crash through several thorn bushes and branches, scraping him up quite a bit.

With ever new step the Prince took he felt like taking a nap, each jump proving to be more draining than the last. He couldn't though, for every time he began to let up, a thundering roar or a thistle in the background would pop out, urging him to push further on no matter the pain or strain building up. It was getting harder and harder to catch his breath, until he reached the point of exhaustion and fell on his side, the wand nearly slipping out of his firm grip, passing out as a long, shadowy figure covered him, swooping him off the ground.

* * *

 **An unspecified amount of time later..**

"Hey, you, you alright? Guy, guy, hey, guy?" A unrecognizable, high pitched voice entered Quartz's ears, making him stiff as he struggled to force his eyes opened. "Hey, you look pretty beat. Here, eat this dirt." Quartz had no trouble waking up after that, for a spoon full of mud was shoved right into his mouth, nearly choking him as he got a good long at what seemed to be his savior. "I wasn't sure if you were going to wake up, so I had to move you to someplace a little less hectic so I could think a little more clearly?"

"Ludo?" The figure looked almost like a an exact replica when it came to the head. Other than that, there was nothing. He was a good three, maybe four feet taller than him, his arms were covered in feathers that actually looked like they could be used to fly, and he wore brown pants with a plain tank top. "Who are you?"

"Ohh, eh, My name is Dennis. Sorry, I just, flew over you and thought you were dying or dead. I've never seen a dead body before, so please understand how confused I was over this." The taller boy nervously explained. "Sorry, I've, I've been through a lot and I haven't even asked you your name."

"Quartz. Nice to meat you Dennis." Quartz said as his mind quickly returned to the wand once more. Even in his forced slumber, his grip refused to let the heirloom go by even a morsel. "At least this thing's safe."

"What is that exactly, some sort of instrument?" Dennis stood way above Quartz trying to get a better look. "Not many people would've tried so hard to hold on to something before passing out. You looked really sick from all that running."

"It's just something really important to my family." Quartz answered as he felt more trembling on the ground. "Look, I really need to get out of here and there's a large group of nasties trying to take my ukulele away. You wouldn't mind giving me a hand getting out of here?"

"Of course! I can take you to my big brother! He'll know exactly what to do." Dennis excited scooped the prince onto his back and flew upwards, allowing the boy's to get a great view of the landscape overall. "He knows a thing or two about being obsessive over stuff, so he might be able to lend a hand."

"Thanks Dennis, I really appreciate it." Huh, for once a monster helped him out, and he didn't need to do a thing. Weird how the universe decides to work. "So, you and your brother, are you guys really close?"

"Oh yeah, we're really close! Closer than two people have the right to be to be honest. We're so close, it should probably be illegal." He chuckled rather lamely. "Actually, we haven't really spoken to each other ever since he left our family. He's kind of been the odd once out of all my brothers and sisters. Do you know what that's like?"

"Ha, not really Between my sister and I, there's never really been a question about how odd we can be. In fact, I'm sure Mom's the only sane one out of any of us. I'm sure one of these day's we'll eventually drive her insane."

"I wish that's something I could do to my parents. Maybe they could finally leave me alone." Dennis grumbled, with Quartz sensing his growing irritation. "My brother's the only one that's ever stood up to them and won. He claimed our ancestral home as his own, pursued his own career, and never let anyone or anything get in his way. He's the only hope I have of ever making it out on my own." Quartz could feel the wave of sadness now filling the bird boy. "I just hope his willing to accept me. Without him, I'm nothing."

"Well, he has to, he's family." Quartz placed a hand on Dennis's shoulder. "I know what it's like to look up to your sibling. We bicker, we can disagree, but we have to take that chance that they know what they're doing, and we stick by them. I couldn't imagine a life without looking up to my sister. When I see her, I, feel reassured that we'll make it through okay."

"Thanks. You know, you Mewmans aren't as bad as others say. You're able to talk to me and you're not nearly as ugly as told in the stories." Dennis did his best to compliment, while Quartz did his best to ignore the clear error in perception. For the longest while, the two were just comfortable with starring into the sky without a single care to drag them down. The two eventually just started to get to know each other, going back and forth with small talk about little things such as board games, the best kinds of mud to sleep in, and of course, corn. "You know, my family doesn't get enough of that stuff, but personally I don't see the appeal. Cornbread, corn chips, corn shakes. It's just too, corny for me."

"Eh, when's the only vegetable able to grow for miles, you just take what you can get I guess." Quartz offered his opinion, keenly spying down on the forest as he scanned further. "So, exactly what does you brother look.." Quartz didn't finish, as his eyes picked up a dangerous sight. Ludo and his gang of monsters had just come unto the sing, with another portal opened up, waiting to be used. "Dennis, when I say dive, get ready to dive."

"What?"

"DIVE!" Quartz, taking full control, grabbed the bird boy by the shoulders and forced them downward towards. With no control over his actions, Dennis began descending down like a rocket towards the group, specifically towards Ludo, who held his own pair of dimensional scissors close to himself. "Get read to turn.." Quartz eyed his family's long time enemy. Funny how he was the one trying to take something from him for a change. "Now!"

With Quartz finally releasing his grip on Dennis, he wasted no time trying to elevate himself upwards again, which allowed Quartz just enough time to do what he needed. "Hey, isn't that?" Ludo could barely recognize the figure above him, as they quickly swooshed past him before he could properly focus his eyes. The one thing he was certain about was the lack of scissors in his hands. "Hey, no fair! I was the one stealing from you!"

"Sorry, but also very much not sorry. Nobody should be trying to steal from anybody!" Quartz quickly shouted before ripping another portal into existence for him and Dennis through.

"Quartz, wait! My brother! He's.."

"No time, we have to go through know!" Dennis initially resisted, doing his best to stop himself, but the momentum he had built up was far to great by that point as he felt himself forced into the portal, with Quartz dropping the scissors behind.

The next thing they knew, they entered the next dimension through what they could only describe as 'falling up'. With the initial tussle the bird boy had, the kids found themselves thrown into opposite directions on the ground, though the impact was largely absorbed by how strangely soft the ground was. Quartz face was nose deep into it, as it felt like he was putting his head into lion's mane. "Huh, weird."

"Dude, dude, what the heck was that all about!" Dennis demanded as they both got on their feet again. "My brother was right there! He could've helped us out!"

"Sorry, but those goons were there, and I'm trying to get this thing as far away from them as possible." Quartz defended. He quickly checked his person to see if everything was in order. The wand was still strapped to his back, but the scissors were now gone. "Great, looks like I left our way back behind."

"Wait, so your saying we're lost!?" Dennis freaked, pulling the hair(?) he had on his head and walked in a circle. If Quartz didn't know any better, he say was watching a dodo attempting the chicken dance. "I've never even left the forest before! How the heck am I going to live in another dimension! I, I barely know where food comes from!" He dropped to the ground, pulling the fur like grass off and quickly shoved it in his beak. "This counts as food, right?"

"Easy, we're getting out of here, so no eating the ground fur." Quartz replied, allowing Dennis to spit out the contents that now overwhelmed his mouth. "I wasn't thinking too clearly when I used the scissors, so I guess we'll have to walk around a little until we can find a way out of here. You with me?"

"It's not like I have much of a choice." Dennis said rather glumly. The two began their walk, taking the new world's mostly hairy atmosphere. It seemed everything they came across, the mountains, the trees, even the rocks, they were all covered in long and poofy hair. Even the town the two stubbled into, people all around were covered in what looked liked piles of hair. "Huh, and they say monsters are weird looking."

"Different dimensions, different rules. These people are called Woolets I believe. I'll go see if I can ask for help." Walking up to a tall purple figure, Quartz stuck his hand out politely. "Hello, me and my fried here were wondering if there was.." Quartz sound found himself ducking a sudden punch the hairy figure threw. "WAIT, I only wanted to.." A powerful kick to the stomach was next for the young lad. Man, was it a bad day not to wear his armor. "..ask about.." Another punch was throw, only for Quartz to summon his shield and push the man back to a wall. "..any portals in the area!" The man remained silent, and it took a second for Quartz to realize the man had been knocked out. "Dang it."

"You boys are new here, aren't you?" A fluffy green figure came up from behind Dennis, who got scared and hid himself behind the recovering Prince. "You exposed yourself too much when you reached for his arm. Besides, your hair's way too short for it to be practical. Kind of day one Wool-let education."

"We weren't looking for a fight, we're just trying to get out of here." Quartz nervously replied. With all the eye now planted on him, it seemed his little display was attracting a bit of a crowd, and not the type he was comfortable in. Something told them these weren't the hi-5 type. "Doesn't look like we'll get far though."

"Not to worry, I think I can help. Name's Kelly by the way." The girl started walking pass them. "Well, aren't you going to follow?" Looking back at each other, the two just short of shrug before wordlessly agreeing. They still attracted a lot of staring, though they would going along with their day as soon as Kelly started forming her fists.

"So, this is your first time exploring another dimension?" Quartz tried to ask, but felt a bit regretful once he saw Dennis's face. He was shaking all over like a rattlesnake's tail, and looked as sweaty as Dad on bog beast hunting. It looked like he would keel over any second. "Are you..."

"You don't hate monster's, do you?" Dennis asked with his voice too fearful for someone of his height. It just dawned on the prince that he was probably younger than he looked. "I mean, it's fine if you do. I'm just wondering why you didn't run away if you were just going to avoid my brother like that."

"I, no, no Dennis. I don't hate anyone." Quartz spoke with a nervous tone. "But that gang of monster's have been chasing after my sister's wand ever since I could remember, and I don't want to take risk losing it to Ludo." Dennis faced changed to one with more shock and confusion. "I know this probably isn't how you pictured your day going, and believe, I have experience with that. I promise you we'll get you back with your brother as soon as possible."

The confusion on Dennis's face was even greater than before. "But, but my brother is.."

ROAR

A thunderous blast of sound whooshes pass the two, almost knocking them to their knees. The source of this, a very familiar pink fur ball lazily laying about, almost unfazed by the sight of his owner. "Well, here he is. He's usually around this spot whenever I come here. He opens a portal to a new dimension and I'm free to just hop around." Kelly explained. "Good luck trying to get him to help you though. He just does what he does most of the time. Maybe if we.."

"Lion!" Quartz ran pass her and straight into the Lion's hide, who only curiously glanced at the prince, before returning to it's slumber. "Is this where you run off to all the time? Why don't you tell me these things that you do?" The Lion only muffled a snarl in response. "There's only some many times that excuse will work on me you know."

"Wha.."

"Oh right, Lion belongs to me, sort of. He likes to run around a lot, so he's less of a pet and more like that stray dog or hobo that stays because you give it food. Isn't that right, you adorable pile of fur?" Quartz cooed his pink companion on and on.

"Come on, I've been trying to get this guy moving for weeks! It's the closest thing I have to a dragon cycle at the moment." Kelly exasperated, trying her hardest not to pull out her own hair. "At least tell me he's just highly trained and only responds to specific commands."

"Nope. I just say please and he does what I tell him to do." Her face fell as she tried to hide her disappointment. "Come on Dennis, our ride is waiting. Hurry before he gets too lazy to do anything else." The Prince rushed, climbing aboard the beast.

Dennis looked more reluctant and confused than ever now. The sweat coming off of him was starting to gain a strong scent, making the other three in his vicinity back away. It looked like he wanted to throw up "Quartz, you said didn't hate me or other monsters, right? Because right now, I have so much going through my head right now, and I really need to say something before my guts spew out."

"Dennis, what are you trying to say?"

"Ludo is my.." Before he could say another word, a familiar ripping sound once again filled the air. "Oh come on!" With the tear getting bigger, more and more monster goons fell out of the air, surround the four people all around. "You guys are seriously making me look worse every time we see you!"

"Huh, an army of monsters. Been a while since I've enjoyed a good brawl. Stay back boys, I got this." Kelly announced, tying her hair up in some sort of fluffy pony tail revealing a dark skinned girl with thick glasses. She took out a huge and thick sword and began to swing it around widely. "I knew there was a reason I always carry this around!"

"Huh, I guess everybody here just likes to fight. Come on Dennis, we should probably lend her a hand.." The bird kid was out of his sight. "Dennis? Dennis? Don't tell me he got scared off." He looked far and wide, ducking several punches and leaping over the brutes, but no sign of him. "Polly want a cracker?"

"I'm a kappa, not a parrot you know!" Dennis shouted from behind the still sleeping Lion's mane, ducking a soon as one of the minions started to get closer to him. "Your being a little insensitive with that remark."

"Oh, so you don't want the cracker I have in my pocket?"

"...I never said that." He blushed before shaking his head. "Whatever, there's no time for any of this! We need to get out of here now!" He kept tapping the Lion's head, hoping to awake him. All he got back in return were light snarls. "Get up you stinking beast! We need to get out of here now!" He pounded his fist on the hide of the feline, causing him the roar furiously in an attempt to bite his head off. "Aggggh!"

"Easy boy, he's just scared. Just think about all the Lion Lickers I'll give you if you don't kill him." Quartz held the beast back. "You alright?"

"Alright? ALRIGHT? How can I be aright when your pet just tried to bite my head off! How can I be alright when I'm scarred for my life, lost in another dimension, with absolutely nothing making sense and nothing going right for any of us?! How can anybody deal with that?!"

"One day at a time." Quartz offered with a small smile of sympathy, only to turn his head at the sound of Kelly's groans. "Listen, I need to help her, so hold on to this for me, will you?" He gives the frighten boy the wand.

"But, but it thought you said you couldn't let anyone get their hands on it?"

"Think of it as assurance. I will come back to you, and I will get you home, promise." He said nothing else as he dove into battle, summoning his signature weapon and blocking a punch coming from Kelly's back.

"Whoa, thanks kid! Almost didn't see that!" She thanked as she tossed one guy over her head. "Sure you want to fight with that overgrown dinner plate you got? I have more than enough swords, believe me." She three several small daggers at the next wave of goons that tried to grab her. "OOOh, that's going to need stitches."

"Thanks, but no. I'm better at defense than offense. Plus, you can't do this with a sword: Boomerang shield!" Throwing it out, the disc went around in a circle back to him, hitting every goon head before coming back to him. "Boom. Nothing tops that."

"I don't know, I think I can think of a few things that can." Smirking, Kelly forced the tip of her sword into the ground, and catapulted herself into the next minion in her way, punching and kicking every part of her face. "Woohoo! This the most exciting thing that's happened here in a while."

"You should meet my sister sometime then! She really knows how to bring the excitement." Again, while fighting wasn't the kid's preferred afternoon activity, he could hardly deny the thrill and adrenalin now coursing through his veins. It was exhilarating, blood pounding, and dare he say it: fun. There was no real worry when it came to these guys. Now he was starting to wonder why he was trying to avoid this all day. "Wait, was it this or Star I was trying to..."

"Ah kid, pay attention!" With another mighty kick, Kelly stayed by the prince's side, getting the boy out of his trance. "Never daydream during a gangbang. That's like rule number one of street fighting." Nodding, the kid held his guard up, waving his shield at anyone that dared to come closer. "Ok guys, how about you give it up now! We've clearly got you outmatched here, so leave before it get's too embarrassing for you."

"You know, she really has a point here. The fighting really is done right now." The crowed of minions backed off, making sure to give their tiny master all the room he needed. "After all, there's no reason to fight the battle when the war's already over." Ludo's confidence was not out of character, but rather out of place for the Mewman prince.

"What the heck are you talking about? Your goons hardly gave us a scratch back there, and, well, you're not the most intimidating person here." Quartz couldn't figure out why Ludo would proclaim victory so suddenly. "And it's not like we're just going to hand over the wand.." Click. "Wait, what did you do to Dennis?" Quartz tried to jump forward in accusation, but the frog goon held him back, despite all attempts to wiggle out. Kelly likewise was apprehended by giraffe guy. "If you hurt him.."

"Hurt him, hurt him?" Ludo's angrily replied, lightly slipping him to the boy's shock. "What kind of monster do you think I am? After all the things you and Star Butterfly go through, I'm surprised you of all people would ever assume something so horrid." Those words, why would Ludo use them like that? What was he saying? "Why on Mewni would I ever try to harm my little brother?"

"BROTHER? Wait, you're Dennis's.."

"..Older brother, yeah. It's what I've been trying to tell you ever since we've got here." Dennis came out from behind Lion, still clutching onto the instrument-shaped wand. Sheepishly, he waddled his way towards them. "If you stop to listen for more than 5 seconds.."

"Alas, even the nicer one's can only hold so much sympathy for monster's. It's not like he was your friend or anything, you just met." Ludo 'defended' his brother. "I mean, really? You run from a kappa, run into another kappa looking for his brother, and don't think there's a connection there?" Quartz gave a small blush. "That's dumb. Everyone, I need you all to laugh at how dumb this kid is." The laughter lasted for about a minute. Ludo laughed the hardest while Dennis forced out a chuckle.

"Dennis, was this all a trick to.."

"No, yes, maybe, I, I don't really know?" Dennis cried out. "All I saw back on Mewni was a kid running for his life, another kid that I thought I could help. Now I'm, I'm just confused here. I, I shouldn't even be here, I, I just want to go home now!"

"Don't worry, my little brother. Just hand the wand over to me, and we'll have the power to go wherever we want, whenever we want without consequence." Sticking out his palm, Ludo eagerly waited for Dennis to drop the wand in his hands, which he begun to do so.

"Dennis, wait!" Dennis did so, much to Ludo's ire. "You can't give that thing to him! He'll take over the universe with that thing! He's the bad guy!"

"Of course Mewni's little brat would say that! His family has persecuted me for years, when I've had nothing but the best of intentions when it comes to me rule."

"The last time you had your hands on it, you tried to use it to annihilate my sister!"

"She interrupted my shopping day and left me indebted to Quest Buy for life!" He huffed with a huge sigh. "Now quite whining already. You've lost already, so at least shut up so I can enjoy gloating about this victory."

"Dennis, please, you really can't just give my sister's wand to him!" Quartz continued to argue. "She'll never forgive herself if she knew she lost it, and I'd never forgive myself for failing her!"

"Well, I, I can't fail my brother either Quartz! Did you ever think about that?!" Dennis got into the Prince's face. "I told you before, he's the only one I can rely on. What can of a brother would I be if I didn't back him up? You told me yourself, you back your sister no matter what." Quartz sweated as the wand came closer to Ludo's hands.

"But that doesn't mean I'll always agree with her. I told you that we can argue and disagree!" He blurted. "Do you know why I was on my own today? It's because I tried taking a break from what I usually do with Star, which didn't really turn out well for me. We try to do everything together, but ever so often, we'll do something that's uncomfortable or not right, or just a little too reckless to handle, which is why we have to learn to say no, or to just stay out of it. Sometime supporting your family means knowing when not to support them."

"You don't know my brother, and you certainly don't know my family!" Ludo's anger erupted, pulling Quartz's hair and bringing his head closed to himself. "You don't know how long I've had to endure mockery from how much 'weaker' I was, how much my brother's and sisters left me behind! Me and Dennis, we're all we got. He's nothing without me." Ludo confidently answered.

"Then it sounds like you too need to know each other better." Quartz snarked back. "Because a good relationship with siblings is like peanut butter and jelly. Sure, they're amazing when together, but they're still pretty great when on their own." He turns his head to Dennis. "You don't need Ludo to be somebody, and you don't have to follow him if you don't agree with it. It's perfectly normal too.." Buff Frog placed a hand on his mouth before he could continue on. "Mpph Mphh umph!"

"Thank you, I thought he would never shut up. Now, where were we?" Dennis still held out the wand, though he slowly began reeling it back. "Dennis, we've literally spent all that time trying to ignore the brat's sappy lecture. Don't waste any more of my time by actually thinking about it." He kept his teeth shut as he spoke.

"Well, this does seem to be a bit excessive for a ukulele, don't you think?" Dennis defended. "I mean, we can always work this out diplomatically.."

"We don't live in a democracy, we live in a world where I make the decisions and everyone else follows me or get's thrown out!" Staring at his younger brother with a more threatening glare, Dennis nearly fell over in fear of his brother's anger. Realizing his mistake, he attempted to lighten his tone with little success. "Don't make me throw you out Dennis. Give me the wand, and we can do what you want to do."

"What I want.." Dennis thought those words over as he stared at Quartz's pleading glare. Was it actually possible to get eyes that bulgy and sad. "What I want to do know is give this back to Quartz!" Before Ludo could protest, Dennis threw it up high in the air, causing everyone to scramble for it by scattering all over the ground. In the sudden burst of panic, the goons had let Kelly and the Prince go.

"Kelly, how good are you at corn ball?" Turning to the older girl, Quartz encased himself in a bubble. Within seconds, she caught on what he was trying to do. "Because the whole universe might depend on it."

"Okay, adding a lot of pressure there, but I'll see what I can do." Smirking, she lifted the surprisingly light bubbled boy and threw it overhead at breathtaking speed. Unbubbling, Quartz reached out and grabbed it without a problem. The minions upon seeing this, began scrambling away as the prince made his slow descent to the ground.

"Sorry guys, but just know you're physical pain is equal to my emotional pain here, so no hard feelings?" He quickly said before strumming the instrument in his hand. It started a soft but quick rhythm, quiet with a tone of somberness in it. As everyone in the area stopped running for their lives, they could help but be drawn to the melody in the air, which only seemed to get louder the closer the boy got to the ground. Furthermore, with every note that he finished, a large, brightly colored music note would appear above him. As he reached the ground, their was well over 100 of them in the air.

Ludo, knowing what to expect by this point, withheld telling his monsters to retreat in favor of saying the obvious. "This is going to be painful."

"Sadness musical note projectile rainstorm!" With a final loud strum, each not shot down like a missile towards everybody, save Dennis who took Kelly by the shoulders and flew her above the chaos. He caught a good glimpse at the monsters groaning in pain, especially Ludo who he saw cry a little after a note hit him in the face. The sight became a little too much for the bird boy to watch, so he quickly set his attention towards Quartz again.

"Wow, that, now that's something else I got to say." Kelly slapped Quartz shoulder, who winced in pain. Doing that big of a spell really took a lot out of him. "Do you do that with every new friend you meet?"

"I try not to if it can be helped." He replied with a small smile, though it quickly vanished when he turned back to Dennis, who still looked a bit shaken up. "You alright?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." He mumbled with is head facing the ground. Quartz couldn't tell if he was more angry or more sad, but both emotion were very present. "Just get out of here before they come to." He walked away to face the inevitable."

"Wait, you're not coming with us?" Sure, he knew Ludo probably had his pair of scissors back, but he was surprised that Dennis wasn't trying to this tense situation. "Well, okay, but would it be possible for us to see each other again?"

"I, I don't know Quartz. Maybe?" He asked himself more then he did Quartz. "Just, just leave."

"Thanks for helping me." Quartz hopped on his pink companion with Kelly riding in the back. With a small smile, Lion picked himself off the ground and made a portal back to earth. In no time at all, they were gone, leaving Dennis to stare at nothing but the air.

"So, the time has finally come, hasn't it? Once more, my own family has gone out of it's way to scorn me to no end." Ludo came from behind him, and Dennis did his best not to face his brother. "No surprise there. Why should I care if another stomps on everything I do."

"Ludo, you know that what you're doing isn't right.."

"I DON'T CARE!" Ludo voice forced the kid to face him, and the seeping anger made the tall bird feel as small as an ant. "I finally came close to winning this time! It was in your hands, the hands of the one I trust the most, and you failed me, just like everyone else I meet!" Taking out the his scissors, Ludo made a portal to Mewni. "Go back home Dennis, and don't stop by soon."

"But Ludo.."

"Go." Not another word was spoken out of the two Kappa's as Dennis wept his way into the portal. Ludo just start at the open portal long after his little brother had stepped through. Somehow, the lost seemed quite bigger than anything he had experienced before.

* * *

Quartz wasn't sure how to feel about his all too short trip back to Earth. Sure, he got his sister's wand out of villainous hands, but he probably lost his chance at making a new friend to do so. Not even Kelly's joyous uproar could completely get him out of his slump. That wasn't even mention the fact he lost pretty much the entire day do to this little excursion.

"Whoa, now that's a wild ride!" Kelly was in ecstasy as Lion planted himself at the Diaz residence. "Come on kid, be more excited. You own this big lug, you're the lucky guy here."

"Yeah, Lion's great." He said with as much enthusiasm he could muster, his downtrodden expression refusing to leave his face.

"Look kid, I'm not sure exactly what happened today with you and that other guy, but I had fun at least. At least be happy knowing you made one friend today." She offered her hand, which lifted Quartz's spirit's just enough for him to smile more genuinely. "And since we're friends, you wouldn't happen to mind me taking your Lion for a joy for the next few hours or daysormaybeeventherestoftheweek?" She passed through the last bit like she was on fast forward.

Knowing exactly what she was doing, Quartz only smiled as he agreed. "Go ahead. Just don't too crazy with him, he's grumpy if he missed naptime." He knocked turned his back and chuckled, already hearing the chaos that was unfolding with Lion's new rider. "Still a whole lot less wild that Star's riding." Speaking of which, the light's in her room were on, so Quartz decided to take the easy entrance. Jumping to her room, he found her surprisingly face deep in a book, hardly noticing who had just entered. Quartz snorted as he lightly tapped the book to get her attention.

"Hey bro, whatcha doing?" She sweetly said before tackling him with a bear hug. "I was just going through this history book, and frankly, I think it's outdated. Nothing about it tells me about how corn fits into their government, and not once has it mention Mewnipendence day. I think I got to do something about that."

"Nice. Oh, before I forget, I should probably give this back to you." Quartz unstrapped the wand from himself and handed back to Star, who was in awe, and not because it transformed back to it's 'normal' form.

"Wha, but, wha, how, why did you have this." Huffing, Quartz told her everything, what led to it, Dennis, the portal hopping, the whole shebang. Throughout Quartz's retelling, Star's face shifted weirdly, mainly focusing on the whole starting point to this series of events. "Quartz, if you wanted some me time, you could've just told me."

"Aghh, I knew it! Why did I have to make myself feel weird about it?" Quartz slapped his forehead. "Well, I guess I just missed how things were back on Mewni before you came here. We spent all of our time together, because we wanted to be together, but now that you're here, there's so much I can do on my own, but, but I don't really know what that is."

"Well, you outsmarted those dingdongs, used your own magic and spells, made new friends, and got back what _**I**_ lost in one piece. I think you're doing just fine on your own." Another hug initiated. "But hey, just so you don't become a sad sack again, why don't we work on that. You and Me, we're going to plan every single thing you can do when I'm not around, that way we can always have fun, whether we're together or apart."

"Like peanut butter and jelly." Quartz smiled. Even when their not together, Quartz could always count on Star to have his back.

* * *

 _Next time: Laser Light Canon_


End file.
